![]() We wanted to show the world what we loved. You exported New York hardcore when you started to tour… Yeah. It was fuckin’ great and nobody gave a shit. Up until the mid-90s there was one guy who’d come in drag and dance in the pit the whole show. At the first matinees I went to there were a lot of openly gay people there. What do remember about that? When people saw bands like Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags covered in tattoos they thought “macho scene” – it was to an extent, but it started more inclusive. Violence at hardcore shows blighted some of that era. It was amazing to have a place to have an outlet. The owner, Hilly Kristal, believed in the music and gave hardcore Sunday afternoons. What are your abiding memories of when New York hardcore had that locus? You’d go down to CB’s every Sunday. I’m not putting them down because it was great and it is true, but, again, you’re not fuckin’ 20 years old anymore, buddy: that’s why you miss it. A lot of the bands write about how they miss the old New York. We’re more open-minded and have different perspectives on things. I don’t think we’re wiser because we’re older: we’re wiser because we’ve travelled. So you’re older and wiser? (Laughs) We’re older and a little wiser. Mark’s Place in Manhattan when I’m not seeing New York, I’m seeing what I can see anywhere? On the other side of that, I’m not a fuckin’ 20-year-old kid going to NYU thinking “This is the greatest city in the world!” Now you have a fuckin’ Chipotle or a McDonald’s – it’s losing its uniqueness. Mark’s Pizza was iconic, but the rent got so high they had to leave. As far as the city changing, special places like St. It’s the same in Queens, New Jersey… that’s the sad thing. They don’t play Manhattan but they’ll play Florida and California… it’s weird to me. There’s a whole scene in Brooklyn I’ve just discovered that’s been there for 10 years, but its bands just play Brooklyn. How has New York hardcore changed? Since CGBG’s closed the hardcore scene is still thriving and there are plenty of bands doing different styles of hardcore, but there’s no centre anymore. It takes them a while to get their footing and they ask us “How you do you do this every night?” We tell them: “We just never stop!” When we reunite with older bands it’s funny because they think it’s still gonna be like it was when they were in their 20s. We try to mix it up and tour with any band that excites us, young or older. In the past couple of years you’ve toured with some hardcore bands from the 80s and 90s who’ve reformed. What is it that makes New York such a big part of your music? Lou Koller: It’s what made us: the whole experience of growing up in New York City, going to the hardcore matinees they had at (legendary New York City club venue) CBGB’s and the history there. The front cover of your new album is your dragon logo wrapped around the Empire State Building.
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