Blacklisted interview

Here is an interview with Blacklisted that I did at the start of this year for Death Before Dishonour magazine. A slightly shortened version of the following text was printed in the 8th issue of DBD, this is the full script but I think it drags on a bit (ie. a couple of questions have quite short, boring answers). I guess you could say my intro name dropping No Warning and AN/GUTG is a bit wanky but fuck it, I like the new Blacklisted record.

Plz do yourself a big favour and rush out and buy every record Blacklisted ever put out or at least track down their split with First Blood (or the Aus release of 'The Beat Goes On...' that has the split as a bonus track). Nowhere USA and Eye for an Eye. Fuck, they're 2 of the hardest songs ever. DON'T THINK CAUSE OF WHERE I'M AT, I'LL PACIFYYYYYY! etc.

Also, this interview has a couple of questions talking about the Blacklisted blog, a blog that I'm pretty sure has been deleted now? It's a pity, I thought their blog was a great read.

When a hardcore band decides it's time to change, they can often be the architects of their own demise. Look at the Linkin Park like antics of No Warning’s ‘Suffer, Survive’ or the more progressive attack of Give up the Ghost’s ‘We're Down Til We’re Underground’. Both albums were met with mixed reactions by their fans and coincidentally, both bands broke up soon after. 
When Blacklisted’s ‘Peace on Earth. War on Stage’ 7” dropped last year, it was certainly something that divided people. In the weeks preceding the release of their new album ‘Heavier than Heaven. Lonelier than God’ I can remember seeing George post on the Blacklisted blog that, “People will say “Its no Eye For An Eye” on the local message board but that’s okay.” A lot has changed in Blacklisted in the last year and it’s allowed them to come into a league of their own. They haven’t really got any peers at this point. Blacklisted has changed and Blacklisted has evolved but the simple fact remains: when you’re listening to their new album, you just can’t fuck with it. Modern, intelligent hardcore boiled right down to its essence. Every impurity removed. An album that feels familiar and progressive at the same time. If you're looking for the future of hardcore, here it is...

Firstly dude, ‘Heavier Than Heaven…’ has just dropped. Tell us a bit about it.
It came out April 1st. Mixed reviews. Things have been really good for us so far. We started a tour March 31st in support of it, So far the shows have been great. The album is intense, that’s all I can really say to describe it.
 
Personally, I think the new album definitely has that Blacklisted feel about it. Like, so much changed musically, but the core of your identity is still there. Is that vibe something you were going for? Something so different but also familiar at the same time?
It was just an expansion of everything we have done so far. A step forward in the progressional fold I guess you could say. We didn’t set out to be different, we sat down, hung out and wrote what was natural to us. Its way blacklisted has always worked. It’s a band that runs more on emotion then musicianship or proper/normal song structures etc etc. It’s a feeling.
 
How do you feel about your older material now? How much of the older stuff
do you still play live?
I have been playing some of those songs for 4 or so years, I am still into them, but I am glad we have new songs to play. We play a mix of everything, Recently we have been mostly playing the new record and our last 7”, But we always make sure we play something off of everything during the course of a set.
 
You re-recorded ‘Memory Layne’ and ‘Canonized’ from ‘Peace On Earth...’ for
the new album, why did you choose to re-record those songs?
Blacklisted tends to write songs quickly, we rarely ever try new songs out live or all together as a band before we record them. After playing ‘Memory Layne’ and ‘Canonized’ for a good 8 or so months things changed in the way we played them, naturally. We decided we wanted to record them that way, so we did.
 
The artwork for ‘Heavier than Heaven...’ has a very unique feel for a hardcore
record. Is there a concept behind it? How do you think the artwork ties into the
feeling of the album?
There isn’t a concept really. Each song has a photo to go along with it that was taken specifically for that song. Melissa Farley (www.melissafarley.com) did all the photography. She was given the lyrics and the album and took the pictures accordingly. The only concept behind it otherwise would be its Melissa’s personal take on the album after reading the lyrics and listening to it. I guess that is why it has such a unique feel.
 
 
One of your common lyrical themes seems to deal with how the people close to
you view you, (ie. ‘wish the ongoing theme about me wasn't “he's just crazy”’ etc.), sorry if it's a bit too personal, but what do most of your family think about you and your life in Blacklisted?
I have no idea. I never really talk or talked about it. I’m sure they are happy that I am doing something with my life? I am not really sure.
 
Blacklisted almost broke up in 2006, after a couple of shitty tour moments (ie. The Warriors and Ignite tours) and the loss of original member, Tim, what made you keep going in the end?
We just felt that up until that point we didn’t create our best songs. There was still a lot more that we wanted to do as a band. After talking about it we decided to write some songs and see where it was going to go. We did that and never stopped going since.
 
Looking back on it now, I’m guessing that you think you made the right decision to continue the band? 
I would say yes. 
 
I've read a lot of writing about Blacklisted being such a full on thing. Like I can remember you saying on the Blacklisted blog that you don't even know why you still own records anymore because you're never at home. Can you paint us a picture of what life is like in Blacklisted? What are the ups and downs of life in a full time hardcore band?
As long as we are on tour playing live things are going to be good. The only down is when there is downtime and you are home with not much to do. You get so used to a schedule of eat, sleep, wake up, play. It takes a toll on you, it’s a constant forward motion that everyday leads to the same thing, getting on stage and playing.
 
So much of your time is spent doing the band, would you say that you even have a life outside of Blacklisted? 
Yes. But a lot of my life is based around Blacklisted also.
 
Where in life do you think you would be if you hadn't started Blacklisted 5 years ago? 
I have no idea, probably working some job that I absolutely hated.
 
The blog that you started in October of last year seems to have become a pretty big part of Blacklisted as a band now. What were your original motivations behind starting a blog for your band?
My original motivation was to just have an open forum where I could talk about being in Blacklisted. Not to have so much of our words being controlled by what people said on message boards and random internet sites. The blog comes straight from the people in Blacklisted’s mouths. Its good way to blur the line that I feel was being drawn between people who play in bands and people who see shows. I started the blog in hopes of getting that distant musician/fan element as far away from my band as I could.
 
Do you think having your history, ideas and ramblings so readily available has been a good thing for the band? 
I think so? I really don’t know. Anything you want to know will be or has been posted. It’s kind of vulnerable and no holds barred, I think it is great.
 
What's planned for the future of Blacklisted? The band seems to have had a
pretty turbulent past, how much longer do you think Blacklisted will last?
I have no idea how long we will last. As long as we all feel the need to make this music I suppose. The future just looks like calendars full of shows.
 
I'm outta ammo man, any last words? 
Thanks for the interview, see you soon. Please take care of one another, peace.