C: Chris - bass guy
M: Max - singer guy
J: Josh - guitar guy
B: B - drum guy

1. how do you feel about the straightedge movement?  are you at all involved in it?
C: i think it is amazing how big it got/is. when i was
just a young kid (that was a looooong time ago, now)
it was something that people talked about here and
there... but i didn't really know what they meant
exactly. why do i keep hearing about this?? i didn't
drink or smoke or anything, so i thought it sounded
like a good concept. but i started going to shows in
san diego and saw how a lot of people were getting
into being 'straightedge' for a lot of different
reasons. i kind of thought it was interesting how many
people were talking about it all the time - it seemed
like they were hyper focusing on it. a lot of ex
straightedge people became total druggies or whatever shortly after it
wasn't as cool any more, so it is sad. it shows you how
you really need to know who you are and do things for the
right reasons, and not just follow trends and get sucked into
things.
M: Its weird when something that is a personal choice and can be done for 
multiple reasons starts to solidify into a "movement" with specific 
guidelines and whatnot. I'm sxe but I wouldnt say that Im down for the sxe 
scene. too much baggage now-a-days....
B: I was straightedge as a teenager and it was a wonderful thing for 
me at the time.  But there came a day when it ceased contributing to 
my life in a meaningful way.  So I gave it up.  Straightedge is great 
as part of an individual's effort to live a meaningful existence.  
Throughout the history of the world there have always been those who 
engage in asceticism of various sorts in an effort live what is frequently 
called "the good life."  Straightedge as individual asceticism is awesome.  
As humans we are the beings which can impose our own will on our very 
selves.  This is a valuable and beautiful thing to do.  For some people 
straightedge is a lot like Christianity is for fundamentalist Christians.  
When straightedge assumes the pretensions of a univeral moral scheme, 
binding for all individuals, it becomes repugnant.  It participates 
in what Foucault calls "the tyranny of globalizing discourse."  There is 
no such thing as the one correct ideal model of existence.  Also, the 
notion of "Selling out" very much disturbs me.  Think of a teenager who 
becomes straightedge and makes a vow to be "true till death."  Now this 
person is going through a time in life with an extraordinary range of 
personal growth and development and to suppose for one instant that his 
marraige to straightedge is going to be exempt from change and 
reinterpretation is crazy.  Life is growth and change.  It is wrong to 
blame a person for changing, to label them as a "sell out."  If one is 
alive, one is in the process of becoming, of changing, of selling out.

2. what are your thoughts on the middle east conflict?
C: it is a giant mess than i can't even begin to grasp. the history
behind all the problems in the middle east is staggering, there is
so much involved. all i know is that we need to start getting out of
our damn suv's and live a simpler life using oil alternatives or
we'll be screwed forever.
M: Whats interesting is how both the conservative right and the radical left 
frame the arguments...like the Isreali/Palestinian conflict right now is a 
micrososm of some larger "war against terrorism" or the fight for 
"self-determination" against "oppression." I've almost stopped looking for 
answers and have become more interested in how groups frame the issues to 
meet their own agendas.
B: It deeply saddens me, all the death and suffering going on.  I hope that 
it is not hopeless.  But it seems so. Here are these two peoples, each with 
their own "claims" to this land.  It is so tragic that extremist views seem 
to predominate and dictate the actions of each of the groups.  There are 
those Palestinians refusing to recognize Isreal's right to exist, and vow to 
never to rest until it is destroyed. There are those Isrealis refusing to 
see the right of the Palestinians to be on the land, and wish that they 
could be "relocated" and systematically oppressed. Each view excludes the 
legitimacy of the other, and so they kill each other and so many innocent 
people.  This holy land seems destined to be perpetuually washed in blood. 
I tend to think that everyone should be evacuated from the holy land and 
that it should be used instead as a toxic waste dump, or that it should 
be made uninhabitable in some way. Bomb the shit out of it, burn it, dump 
poop on it. If it cant be shared, and the only alternative is war and 
suffering, then no one should have it.

3. how did you get started?
C: josh and B and I used to play in the back of this record store in 
s.f. called Epicenter Zone. we did that for quite a while, just jamming, 
trying to make up fast songs. i'd never been in a band before so I
tried to focus on song writing. eventually we hooked up with max after 
moving into his practice space and he started singing for us. from there 
on out a lot more has happened for us and we started playing some shows,
etc. max knows everyone and hooked us up. we would have just been another
bad little band if it wasn't for him.
M: Chris, you're full of shit. They moved into my space after playing for a 
year or two and the songs they had were fucking awesome...I would hear em 
practicing, and I would think, "what the fuck, why havent they played a show 
yet, etc" so they told me they were singerless.....and I said I would try, 
and it worked out. We still stayed low-key for about 2 years, trying to get 
our style down and figuring out what the hell we wanted to do...but chris, 
josh and B write some great songs...while I throw my voice out like every 
practice and get all nervous by being the front guy.

4. what's your favorite book(s)?
C: i recently got a book on tape (for a long drive) that was really good - 
Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. it was damn funny. 
M: Im going through some of Yukio Mishima's books right now, fucking 
awesome. I would recomend Herbert Bix's Hirohito and the Making of Modern 
Japan....its a really good history book. I tend to read super dry histories, 
so most of what I read people would hate.
B: I don't have favorites. I like philosophy and literature mostly. Nietzsche, Foucault, Borges, Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. are just a few.

5. what kind of listeners do you try to target with your music?
C: Anyone who is young at heart, wants to have some fun, and also be a little
thoughtful at the same time.
M: I think target is the wrong word, cuz we have no idea. When people first 
started actually liking us, we tripped out. It was so unexpected, and we 
didnt know how to react. Not like a million people like us, but the first 
few people who were wearing our shirt and stuff tripped us out.

6. what are your thoughs on the current state of the punk/hardcore 
scene?
C: i am kind of an outsider on this topic, never have been one who could claim 
with any authority to answer something like this. all i know is that there
are a hell of a lot of good bands out there in the punk/hardcore scene,
and a hell of a lot of bad bands. there are just so many people involved in 
general with just about anything these days that it is amazing. it used to just
feel like you and a few of your friends at a show, but now there are boatloads 
of people all over the place!
M: It can be crappy and inspiring all at one show. There are so many great 
people involved, and you get to meet so many awesome people who become 
friends for life (like me meeting the SD guys through punk) but then you can 
also have a bunch of dickwads who will force you to ask yourself "why the 
hell am i at this show-why am I into this?"

7. metal influence on hardcore:good or bad?
C: for me - awesome. metal is great in general. i learned guitar by playing metallica
in my room for hours and hours.
M: Good and bad...to each their own. If I could find a truly DIY, 
non-sexist, homophobic, goofy, fun, down to earth metal band that ripped, 
I'd be all for it.

8. what have you been listening to lately?
C: a lot of the scholastic deth practice tape because we are recording some new
material tomorrow!
M: Sharp Knife, The Fleshies, The Kill, Complain, Tear It Up, All Tensed Up, 
just a shitload of bands...there are so many good new bands.
B: Quasimotto, Cannibal Ox, Steve Reich, Shellac, a bunch more.

9. what's your favorite hardcore album(s)
C: tough question, there's so much out there. i'll just say spazz to mess with max.
haha! actually, hearing minor threat a long time ago really influenced me.
M: Chris=nerd. Way too many LPs to list.....a wide variety, new and old.
B: I have a real hard time committing myself to favorites. 

10.do you think that there is a lack of bands singing about important 
issues in punk rock today?
C: it seems like there are a lot of bands that do this, and a lot of bands that don't!
M: Its not that bands are not singing about important issues, but bands that 
either just repeat the same political/personal rhetoric, or bands that are 
reactionary right-wing shit that is trying to piss people off. that kinda 
shit sucks.....I like stuff that is both personal and political, yet it has 
to be challenging and done right.

11.do you play shows out the s.f. area?
C: yep, that is usually where we've played. gilman st in the east bay, or mission records
in san francisco. but we'll be breaking up in a few months because b is moving away.

12.anything youd like to add?
C: thanks to anyone who has supported us in any way, ever came to a show, listened
to what we had to say, etc.
M: You can check out info at: http://www.geocities.com/scholasticdeth - cool! thanks 
for the interview.