INTERVIEW FOR THE FRENCH PUNK FANZINE THE WORST ISSUE #10

DEFIANCE INTERVIEW ANSWERED BY MIKE AND MATT ON MAY 20TH 2001

WORST: DEFIANCE IS INNACTIVE SINCE ONE YEAR AND YOUR SPLIT HAD BEEN

ANNOUNCED.DOES APPARMENT THE GROUP TAKE AGAIN SERVICE, LITTLE YOU TO US

PRESENTED THE NEW LINE UP? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PREECEDING FORMATION?

MIKE: We never announced a split but after we recorded our second LP "Nothing

lasts forever" there seemed to me to be a lack of interest for touring or

playing live from certain members of the band. Our singer Gibby decided to

leave the band and we couldn't really get a straight answer from either our

bassist or drummer if they were still interested in going on, so me and Matt

decided to find new members and keep the band going. The line up as of now is:

MIKE-VOCALS/GUITAR, MATT-VOCALS/GUITAR, ALAN-BASS, BRIAN- DRUMS

WORST: WHAT DID YOU DO BETWEEN THE EP NO TIME AND THE RELEASE OF YOUR SECOND

LP?

MIKE: We did an east coast US tour in summer of 97 and a west coast US tour

in spring of 98 and wrote new material for the second LP. And more recently

we just went on a trip to Mexico in April 01 for a couple of gigs. One in

Tijuana and another in Mexicali we had loads of fun and met loads of cool

people.

WORST: Your new album "Nothing Lasts Forever" has just come out, but you but

you have recorded practically two years ago. Why has it been so long since

the recording and the release?

MIKE: June 1999 is when we actually started recording it. It took a while to

finish as we spent a lot of time on it. But it was released in early 2000 so

that really isn't that long. I think it took a while for it to make it to

Europe this time around because we had no European label pressing it. As we

did with the first LP.

MATT: We didn't want to rush out a bad "filler" record for our second release

like so many bands do. We wanted it to be as good, if not better than the

first one.

WORST: THERE ARE JUST 10 TITLES ON THE NEW LP DON'T YOU FIND THAT MAKES IT A

LITTLE SHORT?

MATT: I personally find myself getting bored with a record that is too long.

I would much rather listen to a record with 10 great songs on it than one

that goes on and on forever and every song on it is as shit as the last one.

I think shorter is better.

WORST: THE "NOTHING LASTS FOREVER" LP CAME OUT ON A SMALL LABEL FROM TEXAS

CALLED MIND CONTROL RECORDS. WHY DID YOU NOT REMAIN ON PROFANE EXISTENCE? THE

LABEL ON WHICH YOU LEFT YOUR FIRST ALBUM AND AN EP?

MIKE: Actually our first LP NO FUTURE NO HOPE was also released on MIND

CONTROL it was just the TIME NO EP that was on PROFANE EXISTENCE. SKULD also

did a European pressing so many people probably thought it to be on PROFANE

in the USA. And we only talked about the one single at the time of the

release of the NO TIME ep and as you know PROFANE EXISTENCE called it a day

shortly after that anyway. Dan still does Blackened Distribution however.

WORST: FOR YOUR FIRST ALBUM "NO FUTURE NO HOPE" YOU HAD A EUROPEAN PRESSING

WITH SKULD RECORDS, IS IT STILL THEM WHO WILL PRESS YOUR SECOND LP?

MIKE: Nothing has been worked out with SKULD for the latest LP. We are

currently working out a new distribution through EBULLITION that should get

stuff better distribution throughout Europe and elsewhere.

WORST: THE COVER OF THE NEW LP IS STILL VERY CONCEPTUAL. WHAT IS THE MESSAGE

WITH A CRUCIFIED CHRIST WITH A DEATH HEAD IN PLACE OF THE FACE AND A CAP OF

THE SS, ALL THAT IN A FIELD OF RUIN?

MIKE: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER no matter how bad it may seem at the time.

Whether it be war or nazism, or for that matter organized religion. The

message was not as many people thought, our last record or our way of ending

this band.

MATT: The message is is that these oppressions war , religion, fascism, etc,

will not last forever as long as we all have something to do with it.

WORST: WHY ALWAYS DO YOU KEEP THE DESIGNS IN MINIMALIST BLACK AND WHITE? HAVE

YOU EVER THOUGHT OF TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

MATT: Simplicity has a lasting impact as far as the artwork goes, but I think

the music and the lyrics are what really matter.

MIKE: I just prefer black and white artwork it leaves a much stronger

impression than full color. Plus I didn't want it to look computer generated

at all, so I stuck to the old cut and paste approach. I also drew inspiration

for the cover from the Anti Fascist artist John Heartfield because I think

his WW2 era photomontage stuff is really incredible. That is just our style

of artwork, and I really don't see it changing a whole lot.

WORST: YOUR LYRICS AS A MAJORITY ARE VERY POLITICAL, ON THE NEWEST LP THERE

IS A SONG CALLED "CHEERS" IN WHICH THE LYRICS ARE VERY DIFFERENT. THEY TALK

OF FREINDSHIP.THIS IS VERY DIFFERENT, ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SPEAKING OF

DIFFERENT THINGS?

MATT: The song cheers is about friends and al those who have stood by us, and

what they mean to us. I think topics like this are every bit as important as

any political song we might write. I like to feel that we could write about

anything that is very important to us. Friends are a very important thing.

MIKE: Like Matt said, the song is just about the importance of friends and

friendship. I don't really think that this is that different of a topic to

write about. We write about anything we feel strongly about.

WORST: ON YOUR FIRST PRODUCTIONS YOUR SONGS WERE RATHER POSITIVE, BUT NOW

YOUR LYRICS SEEM TO BE INCREASINGLY DARK.WHY?

MIKE: I guess you just start to become pessimistic over the years after

watching all the shit that goes on everyday in society. And watch the way

people treat each other, even in the punk scene. It makes me really lose

faith in the human race. However, I try to remain positive and focus on the

good things that keep it all going like friends and the love of punk music

and all.

WORST: YOU ARE VERY PRESENT IN THE ANARCHO PUNK CIRCUIT, BUT ALSO WITH THE

AMERICAN STREETPUNK SCENE.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS. DO YOU ALSO SHARE THE

"SPIKEY HAIRED DRUNK PUNK" ATTITUDE?

MATT: People from both groups seem to like us, this isn't usually the case

with most bands you either fit in with one group or the other. I think it is

good because we get our message out to more than just one group.

WORST: ON THE EP "NO TIME" YOU HAD TAKEN A MUSICAL DIRECTION MORE MID-TEMPO.

WHY? IN HAD TO BE PLAYED ENOUGH FAST PIECES?

MIKE: The NO TIME ep wasn't meant to be a change in the sound. That

particular single just happened to not include the fast songs we had at the

time. Everything we have released from the start, has been a mixture of

faster songs and mid-tempo songs. We decided that the songs we put on the EP

were the best out of the songs we were doing at the time. They just happened

to be the mid tempo ones.

WORST: ON YOUR FIRST ALBUM YOU THANK IN PARTICULAR MALOKA. HOW WAS BORN THIS

COMPLICITY? CAN YOU SPEAK ABOUT THIS COLABORATION?

MIKE: Maloka were responsible for setting up a great many of our shows in

Europe and hooked us up with a lot of cool people who helped us get around

Europe. Thanks again and hello to them we had a great time. And still would

love to come back.

WORST: WHAT MEMORY OF YOUR EUROPEAN TOUR TO YOU REGARD THE MOST? WHICH

COUNTRIES DID YOU GO? DO YOU THINK OF RETURNING ONE DAY?

MIKE: I know personally my favorite part of the tour was Eastern Europe

(Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia) partly because it was so

different and the kids seemed to be so into it. They went crazy and the gigs

were really big, and loads of fun. All the gigs were really cool but those

ones just stick out a lot in my mind as being really exciting.

WORST: THERE WAS TALK OF A JAPANESE TOUR. IF THERE IS TO BE ONE WHO WILL

ORGANIZE IT AND HOW LONG? HOW MANY CITIES AND WITH WHICH GROUP?

MIKE: We are still working on a Japanese tour. We hope it will be fall of

2001 if everything works out.

WORST: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OFFICIAL INTERNET SITE? AND WHY HAS IT NOT

BEEN BROUGHT UP TO DATE SINCE JUNE OF 1999?

MIKE: Initially a guy called Chris did our first official site, Then a girl

on the East Coast from New York did a new one. We lost contact with the

people, and the sites were not able to be updated so they just stayed up and

on link pages of other websites. A guy called Raven is doing our new one as

of now and everything is pretty current and being kept up to date.

The address to the Official DEFIANCE Website is:

http://www.geocities.com/opposition76/bands/defiance-index.html

WORST: KELLY YOUR FORMER BASS PLAYER SPITS MUCH ON DEFIANCE IN THE PUNK

PRESS. WHY WAS IT STARTED FROM THE GROUP? WHICH ARE YOUR RELATIONS NOW?

MIKE: We did a lot in a very short time while Kelly was in the band a full US

Tour, a Tour of Canada and finally our European Tour. We all spent a lot of

time together and built a lot of animosity. After Europe we no longer wanted

him in the band and I know he felt the same way. So we parted ways. We said

some things in interviews that were not very nice as did he. We are all over

it. He is living in Germany now I guess. Upon his last visit to Portland we

said hello and there was no bitter feelings. I hope all is well with him.

WORST: YOU HAVE PLAYED IN DEPRIVED, CAN YOU SPEAK TO US ABOUT THIS? WHAT HAVE

YOU LEFT WITH THE GROUP?HAVE YOU DONE ANY CONCERTS OR TOURS? WHO IS THE GIRL

THAT SANG ON "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"? WHY DID YOU SPLIT?

MIKE: Actually the first line up of Defiance was 3 ex members of Deprived Me,

Tony and Kelly. We split because Tony joined Resist and I was looking to do a

new band. Resist split and Kelly and Tony joined our new band Defiance. We

have talked over the years of a Deprived reunion but we are all pretty busy

with the bands we are currently in. Although we will probably do a deprived

re-union gig in Portland at some point in time.

WORST: AT THE BEGINNING THERE WAS ONE SINGER MORE, TONY.WHY DID HE LEAVE THE

GROUP? IS HE STILL ACTIVE IN THE CURRENT PUNK SCENE?

MIKE: He was in the first line up for about the first year. He got involved

with drugs and became very unreliable so we kicked him out. He has since

beaten his bout with drugs and is actually very involved with the current

scene. He works at Portlands' oldest punk venue Satyricon and does a lot of

booking for bands there and elsewhere. He is also in a band called the RIFFS

they are working on an LP for Charged Records.

We often do gigs with them here in Portland and they came along with us on

our last West Coast Tour.

WORST: WHAT IS COMING IN THE FUTURE FROM DEFIANCE?

MIKE: We are talking with DISTORTION RECORDS out of Sweden about a new

single. That will be our next release hopefully before the end of the summer.

We are also trying to make it to Japan in the fall of this year 01. Then we

will start work on a 3rd LP.

WORST: ANY WORDS IN CLOSING?

MIKE: We would like to thank all the people we met in Europe on our European

tour that helped with gigs or gave us places to stay, and fed us. Also hellos

to all our friends who for some reason or another we have lost contact with.

We do hope to return to Europe with the new line up. So anyone interested in

helping us out with a European tour feel free to get in touch. Thanks to

Fredz from the THE WORST for the interview, the patience, and the interest

and hope fully we will be over soon.