The following is an interview that will appear in my zine, The Catalyst. It was done through the mail. I will put info up on my zine when it is done
Lincoln: Can you tell me a little about Assembly of God, who is in it and when can we expect any releases?
Chad: Assembly of God is still in the getting our shit together stage. We just recently (a couple of days ago actually) acquired a new drummer. So the line up is now, Mike (Captain Death Metal) Stawdridge on bass, Kevin Bondardy on Drums and myself on guitar/vocals. I feel good about this line up and working with the guys manly because I have known them for a quite a while. Mike has been (and still is) in Subsanity and Kevin has been in Rat Piss, the Lunch Bunch and some other bands that are eluding me at the moment- Right now we are just writing and rehearsing but I would have to say that we do plan to try and record by the years end. Then with any luck, I should be able to put it out as soon after that as possible.
Lincoln: What brought about the end of Brother Inferior?
Chad: Well, honestly that�s a question that does not have too simple of an answer. I think it just started to go off in too many different directions both personality wise and music wise. And I do not think we all had the same goals in mind for the band. Let's just say it felt like it was time�.
Lincoln: Chad you would most likely consider yourself an anarchist correct? What are your thoughts on the recent Anarchist craze in the mainstream brought about by Seattle and A16, is it good or bad for the movement?
Chad: Well, first off, yes, I would consider myself as an anarcho-syndicalist. And for anyone unsure what exactly that means, there have been several books on the subject. No immediate titles come to mind however I am sure you can find some good ones through AK press (PO box 40682, San Francisco, Ca 94140-0682). Now- I am somewhat unfamiliar with a majority of what happened up in Seattle with the protests, other than what the mainstream media said. They, or course, painted the protesters as a bunch of misguided punks and troublemakers.- Now, to be honest I am unaware of anything resembling what I would consider an Anarchist "craze" in the mainstream so I really can not comment of is it good or bad for the movement. But then again I see the anarchist situation in the U.S. as not so much as a movement as much as a group of unconesive motions going in a variety of different directions. It is inspiring to see something like the Seattle protests come together like they did on such a large scale and I most definitely hope that it is but a minor glimpse into what lies ahead, where large scale Anarchist movement is not so much a novelty but a force to be reckoned with.- And as a far as mainstream media is concerned- you know they will always have a bias towards their financial backer's interest so anything they say about Anarchists or Political protests becomes null and void the movement it comes out of their mouth-
Lincoln: How exactly did you get into the punk/hardcore scene? At what age did you really start getting involved?
Chad: Well, I grew up more in the metal scene of the late 70's early 80's. I remember when I first heard the N.O.T.A. in 85 or 86 and it made quite an impact on me. I started getting into a lot of crossover and early HC- I guess I was just angry all the time and needed a vent. You know the typical 15-year-old who hates the world. I really did not know much about politics back then except that Christians were liars and should not be trusted. I remember starting to read the bible (around 16 or so) and asking myself "What the fuck?" over and over again. Not to mention my neighbors (the pipers) who would not let Danny come over because I was going to burn in hell. Anyhow, in Broken Arrow (a suburb of Tulsa where I was raised) I was pretty much one of the only kids that was into the HC so I was unaware that there was a scene. So I did not end up going to Tulsa shows till late 86-87, so I missed seeing the original N.O.T.A. live (FUCK!) Then I just started meeting people, hanging out and all of a sudden its 15 years later�
Lincoln: What are some of your biggest influences?
Chad: Fuckin' Christ Lincoln! That's pretty vague! Is this where I am supposed to list off my favorite bands and (?) ? Well in all honesty I think everything has some sort of influence on us in one way or another. I know there were things in my younger years that made me feel strangled by my surroundings which I am sure started me on the anarchist path. And I remember quite vividly my neighborhood in Broken Arrow (a suburb of Tulsa) when Rhema Bible College moved in down the street and slowly every open house around us was occup8ed by Christian zealots looking for their sheep, I would guess my love for death metal grew out of those years but you know its all hard to say. A lot of my fist songs I have written for the Assembly have been directly out of some of the lessons I learned while in the inferior like spouting off criticism of the world is easy. Recognizing your own faults and hypocrisies and dealing with them- now that�s hard but I guess to suit the original question- Musically I say (as if I have not made it known) would be N.O.T.A and Cryptic Slaughter and The offenders and a million other great 80's HC bands. More recently I'd say most definitely Health Hazard and Seein' Red and Dead Stool Pigeon. Lyrically- That's a tough one 'cause I am into different writers for different reasons- Band wise- I'd say- Active minds, Seein' Red, Dead Stool Pigeon (mainly for excellent anthemic reasons) and Steve Harris (Iron Madden) with ability to tell excellent stories in song form. Not to mention- Woody Gothrie, Billy Bragg and Harry Chapin-Then writer wise- I would most definitely say-Howard Zinn, Robert Ellis, Robert G. Inersoll, George Smith, Jack London, John Steinbeck, and Noam Chomsky.
Lincoln: Now you have toured a couple times, across the U.S. as well as Canada and Europe so tell me how does the rest of the U.S. compare to the Oklahoma Scene? Most bands seem to think Europe has a much tighter and more together scene. How did you guys like Europe, what impressions did you get?
Chad: (A) I guess that question could be answered 100 different ways depending on the timing. It seems like the scene here (as in most around the U.S.) goes through many different cycles. Where for a couple of years at a time the scene seems to thrive- Good shows, good bands, lots of support and what not then most of the socialite (not socialist) punks grow out of it and move on to something else leaving a lack of support. Then there is the usual lull in which case the shows happen a lot less frequently only a few people show up and everyone talks about how it all sucks- Usually though there always seems to be a few dedicated individuals to keep the home fires burning, like around here, the Septic Tumor boys have been having a good go at keeping things going. And I most definitely commend them for it. Admittedly over the last year, I have been fairly out of touch with it all so I really can not comment with any sense of accuracy on how thing's are going now. (B) Personally, I loved it. From a band members perspective it was a pleasant change. Getting fed at 95% of the shows and plenty of beer to boot! The support was absolutely grand, especially for the fact that I dropped the ball right off the bat and we did not bring the equipment. We were supposed to and yet everyone pulled through for us in a big way. It is definitely something I will always remember. I got the impression that there was a lot more unity and general concern within the parts of the punk scene we saw. It certainly inspired me a lot to think about how we can involve politics and punk rock into our daily lives- as far as just Europe itself goes (outside of the punk spectrum I mean) it was surprising in many ways. Some cities I thought would impress me (Athens, Rome, Warsaw) I was not all that impressed with, however I was left in awe from rural Finland, Lisboa Portugal, Slovenia, Czech, and of course Ireland, there is so much to see and experience. I Highly recommend everybody going whenever you can. Hell, I highly recommend traveling in general. For myself, anywhere I have not been is where I want to go and when next year rolls around I hope we can get Assembly out and about to see even more of the world. Or maybe I will go out by myself again, either way�.
Lincoln: I was looking at this Anti-Christian Coalition site the other day and ran across a quote from your favorite guy Ralph Reed that said, "I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag." And I of course thought of the Brother Inferior song named after him, who exactly is this psycho?
Chad: Well you pretty much hit the nail on the head with that question. As it is, he is the former head of the Christian Coalition (I forget his replacements name) They are what you might call a Christian Guerrilla movement- Right wing zealots who are pushing for a Christian totalitarian state. So I would compare him to a Christian Stalin. If Stalin was a capitalist (wow that�s a fucked up analogy!) They are heavy supporters of the pro-life movement not to mention eliminating evolution from the classroom. I would not necessarily say they are trying to break the wall between church and state as much as I believe they want the church as the state. The sad fact is that they re extremely effective. They have utilized our fucked up political system and general apathy to tits fullest extent. Basically they encourage there supporters to run for low level public offices (like the ones that basically no one pays any attention to) and also local school boards to get a control over local communities. That way they can gradually move up the political ladder and no one is the wiser. We end up with a whole level of Christian fascism taking over our cities and more importantly in my opinion our schools-using tactics that are comparable to Grebble (Re-writing history, eliminating evolution, science) Knowing full well that they are molding the future into their own image. And quite successfully I might add. You see, in a lot of situations when a local election comes around, most people do not know or really care about them. All they have to do is get a group of dedicated people to make the rounds and call all the registered republicans in the voting area. Then they let them know that there is an election coming and the "family values" Christian candidate is running and probably a scare tactic along with it to make them think he might lose so they will get out to vote. Of course, as far as these voters know this is the only good candidate running because most people do not think these elections are important so they pay them no mind. And in my opinion these elections are the only ones that are important.- So in a nutshell, unlike ours, their revolution is happening and we would be wise to pay heed.
Lincoln: Brother Inferior was a very political band, how do you guys feel about the current anti-political chaos punk attitude going around now?
Chad: In a word- Typical. But I would have to disagree that they are anti-political, from what I have seen they have thoroughly embraced politics. Just not in the same way a number of us have. To start- what does it mean to be political? Basically it means being aware and concerned with the affairs of our society and government. (now lets' skip the whole premise of socialized political correctness- because I generally think it�s a flawed form that has no real ground or validity to it and is only used as a retort when ones argument has no legs to stand on) So anyway- To be anti-political would mean to be unconcerned with our surroundings. Now correct me if I am wrong but I thought that punk rock in itself is a criticism of the status quo and society in general. So if you have a problem with society as a whole and give it a big fuck you, then you are effectively saying that you are concerned with it enough that you have a problem with it. There fore you are making a political statement. A vague one indeed, but one nonetheless- Another think I would like to address in this regard is something that I have noticed about some of the complaints about "political" punks. It seems that they have a problem with anti-racist punks bringing their "politics" into punk. However, I do not hear much complaining about racist punks bringing their "politics" into shows- because complaining about racists is apolitical stance. Yet complaining about Anti-racists is not. Exactly where does the logic lie within this argument? I get the impression, as curious as it is, the whole anti-political movement does not want to have to think. Think about the words we use and the origins and their underlying meanings, think about the hierarchal mentality we have engrained in our lives- Think about the reasons we are punks in the first place. OR maybe they just want to be able to call me a kike or a mick without being called a racist? So if I am anti- the anti-political punks what exactly does that mean? So rah, rah, rah I am a punk rocker without any reason to be a punk rocker because that would be political. I never realized it was such a dirty word- Regardless of all this, yes I consider myself a poli8tcal punk and a flawed human being. And I hope that my politics can bring me a wee bit closer to the person I want to be. But like all worthwhile endeavors that is a struggle in itself and a never-ending won at that.
Lincoln: Thanks for doing the interview, anything else you want to add?
Chad: Not really, other than thank you and everyone reading this. All of the members and past members are off doing their own things. But you can reach me at
Chad Malone
PO Box 8545
Tulsa, OK 74101
Or
Ryan Rolston
PO Box 2353
Portland Or 97208
Look for an Assembly recording early next year, then hopefully tour soon after. See you all then!
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