VITAMIN X recently toured the USA to promote their new album ''Full Scale Assault''. I caught up with them at their show in Cleveland.
Interview by Abigail D.

A:Why doesn't everyone introduce themselves.

AX: I'm Alex I play bass.
MK: I'm Marko, I'm singing.
M: I'm Marc, I play guitar.
W: Wolfi, drums.

A: All right, so how long have you all been a band?

M: Well, we put out two 7" in 98 and 99 and our first album was produced in 2000. Alex, the bass player, entered the band in 99. Alex, Marko, and I (Marc) have been in the band since 1999 and Wolfi entered the band two years ago.
MK: First practice we ever did was November 1996.

A: How did you all form as a band?

MK: When we started the band, it was me, another friend, and Marc. Of course, in the beginning, we didn’t take ourselves seriously, we just wanted to play music that we liked; 80’s hardcore punk without any (mosh) metal influences. At that time, the hardcore scene was really down, nothing was really happening. The scene was just filled with bad metal bands who called themselves hardcore. Fortunately there were quite a few new kids that liked our style of music, so after only a few weeks practicing we already started getting show offers and we started taking ourselves more serious.
M: Yeah, when we started, we just had some practices for fun, with me on drums haha. I've been in tons of bands but with this band we already after one month had an offer to play. We didn't even have songs. We just played everything we had which was like three songs. The show went down great and we got more show offers and then someone offered to record us a 7". One thing led to another and here we are playing our 160th USA show and touring the world. I don't know...Its really strange that we got so far.
AX: The whole scene in Holland was really on the rise at that point, from 1995 to 2000. There was a surge. There were a lot of new bands from all over Holland. We just had a really good scene going. VITAMIN X was one of the bands that started and helped the whole thing.

Zaragoza is a mid-sized city strategically situated in the northeast of Spain, 300 km from Barcelona, Madrid or Bilbao. This geographical location has enriched the DIY community since the early 80’s: Nowadays we can find a great quantity of bands of interesting and different sounds, but as a whole form an attractive political and cultural network. CHICARRICA, KARNVAPEN ATTACK, CRIATURA, BLOCKBASTARD, DOWN TO AGONY, INSOMNIO ROTTEN MEYER AND THE PSYCHOPUNKS and even YAKUZA HORROR are a clear examples of it. With the release of their new work I believe that it is a good idea to know more about them, of their activity and of their small but powerful local scene. From the police state of Zaragoza for the international community, here is YAKUZA HORROR!! Come in and read!!

Interviewed by Juanme for PE.
Pics by Sonia and Abel.

PE: YAKUZA HORROR have been out there for some years. Apart from playing in several places, you have also released a demo tape and a 7”. Please tell us something about your trajectory for the people who don’t know you.

Dani: We started back in 2003 with the intention of playing traditional crust. It was more a project, as most of us were (and are) in other bands such as DOWN TO AGONY, KARNVAPEN ATTACK, CRIATURA, TOTALIKERS, ASALTO 54, etc. We did some very chaotic gigs, with not many songs and not very many practices. This changed when Alex came to sing with us and the line up was definitely established. Since then we have recorded a demo tape, a 7” (La VI Extinción) and toured in the south of our country. Since there we’ve played all around Spain: Barcelona, Andalucía, Logroño, Valencia, Euskadi, etc.

Jeff “free” Luers is one of the most well known Earth Liberation prisoners in America. He has been in prison now for 8 years and was facing a 22 year sentence for a simple act of arson. His sentence was recently reduced to 10 years. I decided to catch up with him after I read his letter in the last issue of PE.

Interviewed by Abigale D.

PE: So Jeff, tell us a little about yourself.

I’m 29 yrs old. I came to prison when I was 21. I grew up in the L.A. area before moving to Eugene, OR when I was 19. I got into politics and radicalism at a young age, about 14. A lot of it revolved around anti-fascist and anti-police brutality issues. But at 18 I was exposed to Animal and Earth Liberation struggles. That has really become my passion. After moving to Oregon I got heavily involved in forest defense and local anarchist struggles, spending months at a time living in old growth forests and swinging from the tree tops.

Band name:

We are Morne

Formed:

2005, current lineup 2007

Members and instruments:

Milosz: vocals, guitar, keyboard in studio
Jeff: vocals, guitar
Max: bass, keyboard in studio
Kevin: drums

SISTA SEKUNDEN interviewed by Flox / Fight for Your Mind

PE: Hey SISTA SEKUNDEN can you please introduce the band members and tell us what SISTA SEKUNDEN means?

Andy: I’m Andy, I play guitar and I have glasses. Tommy plays the bass and he’s the best story teller in Sweden. Dempe sings and is a tattoo artist. Julian is young, French and play drums. We are four douche-bags living in Sweden playing hardcore because it’s the one thing we know and it comes from the heart. Sista Sekunden means “the last second” which can be translated into many meanings.

PE: None of you are new comers to the punk scene and some of you have played in the bands SATANIC SURFERS, INTENSITY, SKITKIDS, etc... How is SS different than the other bands you’ve been in? Do you feel any pressure starting a new band since your previous bands have all been quite successful?

Andy: For me Sista Sekunden is truly unique because it’s the first band I’ve been in from the very beginning. In my early punk years I managed to join bands that were already established, which was great, but sometimes it didn’t feel like I was playing my own stuff. The only pressure I feel today is keeping up with all of the deadlines and stuff that needs to be done. Booking, layout making, printing, merching, releasing for the band and it’s taking a toll on me.

PE: Has singing in your native language been a problem when playing abroad?

Andy: Even if people don’t understand the words hopefully they appreciate that we sing about things we actually mean instead of screaming worn out phrases that we don’t really know the content of.

Band Name:

WAR//PLAGUE

Formed:

May 2008