Die Young (TX)
Texan hardcore band Die Young made the last stop of their East Asian tour in Hong Kong, we were lucky enough to catch them for an interview before they turned HKs underground scene upside down, and melted the walls of the Warehouse.
Could you guys all introduce yourselves and your role in the band?
I'm Chris, I play bass. I'm Jared, I play the drums, I'm James I play guitar. I'm Daniel, I vocalize.
How did you guys start off?
Daniel: We've been a band for like three and a half years and um, James and I used to play, not in the same band, but in hardcore bands in Houston back in the late 90's. I don't know, both of those bands fizzled out so then we decided that we wanted to get together and do something that was kind of old-school just really aggressive and kind of metallic, with the emphasis on the lyrics. We wanted to tour our asses off, and basically not work as much as possible. That was the idea behind Die Young when we started 3 and a half years ago. We've probably been through 80 members at this point, whenever someone said "cant tour", it was sorry dude, you're out. But now we've got a pretty stable line up.
I understand you guys put a pretty heavy emphasis on your lyrics. What influences your lyrics, where do you get your ideas from?
Daniel: Well you know, first and foremost it'd be my reactions to the world around me, and the society I live in. It's weird coming to Asia and seeing how much my lyrics are from a western perspective and maybe if I was born out here, I wouldnt be so angry. Maybe I would be if I stayed out here long enough to see things, I dont know. But you know like, most of it is just my reaction to growing up and realizing what my mentors and society expect of all of us, trying to make sense of that and eventually refuting it and deciding to do my own thing in life. And you know I read a lot, so I might borrow a philosophy or a line from some author here and there. And a lot of influences come from the bands I listened to growing up.
Do you guys have day jobs? Or do you play full time?
Jared: I have a day job, kind of. I work at a bar but like all of us, we just work when we need to save up to go out and tour more. I mean, I think we've all probably quit jobs to do tours and we've all gotten jobs to save up money to go on tour.
Daniel: Our lives definitely don't revolve around working. They revolve around playing hardcore and doing whatever we can to scrape by and keep on playing. So, right now we dont really have jobs, we dont really have steady jobs. We're lucky enough to have a history with jobs we've had for a long time, it's where we can kind of go back when were home for two weeks or whatever but we dont really have steady jobs or anything like that.
So, why are you playing in Asia?
Jared: The U.S. kind of sucks
Band: yeah
Jared: Kids there are so jaded. Like no matter what kind of music it is, everyone is either too cool or something, it's totally refreshing to come out here and like a shit load of kids come out and they all have a good time and it seems like a very positive thing. It's not like in the States: you get a hardcore show and it seems there are just a lot of dudes there who just want to get into the pit and beat the shit out of each other. I mean, I guess violence and moshing have always been a part of hardcore, but that's not what its about. It's not about flexing your nuts, trying to be the tough guy.
James: I think that in the past the violence was more of someone getting out energy, and it just sort of happened, as opposed to now where its premeditated and it's like...
Daniel: I'll also say that we wanted to come to Asia because most of us are middle class dudes; well, James always waves the lower class flag. But we're kids who work or have worked menial jobs and we dont really have another way to come see the world. And music is an awesome thing to bring people together, no matter what part of the world you're from. So we wanted to experience that.
James: I dont understand why someone would not want to see this place.
Jared: Yeah, we're all seeing things that most of our friends in the US will never see, and we're doing things that they will probably never do. And I mean just the experience, I mean the fact that we're all standing in Hong Kong right now being interviewed, about to play a show that's...
James: I think a question you might want to ask is why more bands don't come here, as opposed to why you do.
Its a small crowd around here, like averaging, if youre lucky, 100 people per show.
James: In the States that's a fairly good sized show for a local band.
Daniel: I dont think that the number of people in the crowd always dictates how good a show is going to be.
So What makes a good show?
Chris: As long as we can connect with the audience, then it's a good show, weather its 5 people, or 500 people.
Jared: Even if its 8 people- we played a show in Vermont and there were probably 8 people at our practice space.
James: Thats a generous estimation.
Daniel: The people there were more welcome to what was being said to them and what was being played for them than shows we played where there were...
Chris: 300 kids who just want to hear break downs and ...
Jared: And show everyone their cool new shoes.
Bass: Or their white belts.
Jared: Yeah these *points to shoes* were like 2 dollars dude. I didn't spend 80 bucks on these, I spent two American dollars, and they are as cool as fuck.
What makes every show worth playing?
Daniel: Well, it's not work. This is my obsession, personally. I don't sleep because I'm thinking about the next tour or the place I'm going to get to go that I've never been to before, and you know for us to play our music in front of kids and sharing ideas and hanging out. The whole experience of it, to me, is priceless. It's what I live for, if I wasnt doing this I'd probably be more miserable than I am, somewhere in a miserable ass place in America.
You said something about hardcore shows and moshing, I've heard quite a lot of stories about it like you just said, how everybody just wants to kick each others ass, is that really true?
Jared: Yeah, I mean we played that show in, where was it, Brockton outside of Boston. It was a good show, there were lots of people, but some stuff went down that didn't need to go down. I mean a guy ended up losing his eye.
Daniel: Well that's not true, but he did get hospitalized.
Jared: It gets out of hand and there is no need for that. It ruins the show.
Daniel: There has been a total rise in crew mentality, and really what it is, is hurt mentality. It's a bunch of people that don't want to get together and talk about things.
Jared: They can't think for themselves.
Daniel: They resort to violence and it's the easy way out. I don't know, I like to see kids moshing but I also like for there to be a sense of community. When I came into hardcore in the late 90s in my home town, there were just starting to be local bands and kids would go to shows and they would mosh their asses off. But they would look out for their friends; there were never any fights.The emphasis on the thug image and crew mentality have gotten big in hardcore in the past 5 years. It's really skewed. Just your experience at a typical show.
Jared: I just don't understand why kids at shows are fighting each other when they could be fighting the cops. Or, you know doing something to try and change the society we're in, instead of killing each other and killing the scene and killing the exchange of ideas. It's counter-productive.
Daniel: Yeah, its true. But not every scene...
Jared: There are places where it's definitely not like that.
If you could predict the future, what would happen to hardcore in the next 5 years?
James: That thug image will die and everything sick will go.
Daniel: It's a trend and you know I think that bands with a message might start coming back and I think they already are. We go on tour and I think, it's getting better. And whether it's getting better or not, the people who believe in the value of hardcore and punk just got to keep doing it , so that the cycle does come back around and there is a generation of kids that do value ideas and communication.
Are there any influential figures or bands that you look up to or influence your music?
Daniel: I'd say the top three for me are Catharsis, an anarchist punk band from north Carolina, Black Flag and Bad Religion, cause they brought intellect into punk and hardcore. And Ian McKay, from Minor Threat, of course. Hes still a positive influence in the Indie community.
Are there any characters in history you look up to?
James: My most influencial characters are the people in my family, seeing what happened to them here or there and how I can personally avoid falling into those same traps. You know, I'm not demeaning their struggle; I'm just saying that if I see someone is being victimized, I'm not going to follow in their footsteps.
Jared: I like Weezer.
[Band Chuckles]
Daniel: Oh God. Tommy Lee for him. Les Claypool for Chris.
Daniel: Even for historical figures it's hard for me to totally say. I identify with the ideologies of all these historical figures that I can find inspiration from anyone from Che Guevara, to Jesus, to Buddah, to Gandhi to Martin Luther King, to anyone who stood up in their time and made changes. The masses always tend to fuck things up. Yeah, plenty of historical figures, that doesnt mean that we endorse, but any revolutionary figures I think are always.
James: I think its important - sorry to backtrack- but she asked about predicting the future. I think it's really important particularly in a place like this, because I may be wrong, but from what I understand the scene here is relatively new. I hope that a lot of these people understand that there has always been a band here or there- depending on the era- that achieved major label success. I hope that they understand that throughout the entire time, '76 till now how ever far back you want to go with it- there's always been a segment, there's always been a group that did it -hate to pat ourselves on the back- but did it the way DIY [Do It Yourself] bands did it. I think that gets lost in the frail a lot of times, because people want to pay attention to the bands on MTV. I don't think they understand that within 2 or 3 years, they will be gone.
Daniel: Bands like that don't really build community. That's the grassroots aspect of hardcore, the community, the kids at the show and the scenes.
James: So if you want to predict the future: eventually all the bands that are receiving all the attention on a really grand scale now good for them if that's what they want to achieve, I'm not trying to talk down about them. Eventually their time will pass and what will be left is what's always been the backbone, and that's the bands who do what they have to do.
(c) 2006 Chantal Stanford & Rebecca Martyn All Rights Reserved
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