here's another gem that almost plunged into a binary clusterfuck. NY's Hellfire Boys Club have been purveyors of the long island dark arts scene for quite some time now. what started as an std ala THE CLAP ..the breakout manifested one hundred fold into a whole other entity..blasting sarcasm and political ideas guide a sea of wayward souls towards a light of redemption. choke on this, pop consumer!
LEWD: Hellfire Boys Club? Is this like a place where disenfranchised Satanist teens can get together and meet?
SHAWN CLAP:If by "meet" you mean "fuck", then yes, I'd call that an accurate description.
LEWD: So let’s discuss the name change. You used to be THE CLAP and now you’re not, what lead to the decision of changing the name?
SHAWN CLAP:Well, The Clap was a band, and a very good one at that, but the Hellfire Boys Club is a gang.
LEWD: Okay now do I still call you Shawn Clap or Shawn Hellfire?
SHAWN CLAP: Since so many women have "Property of Shawn Clap" tattooed on them, I figure it best to just keep that name.
LEWD: The name suggests elements of Magick and Necromancy? Do any of the members subscribe to those belief systems or belong to any secret societies or anything?
SHAWN CLAP: The first rule of the Hellfire Boys Club is: You don't talk about the Hellfire Boys Club! The second rule of the Hellfire Boys Club is....
LEWD: Have you ever resorted to thumbing through a tome like the Necronomicon to perhaps find a hex or something of the sort to use on those goofy Long Island post core emo philips bands that are currently touring and polluting this godforsaken country with girlie bangs and bad songs?
SHAWN CLAP: I don't spend much time worrying about that sort of music or American Idol or contemporary jazz or, for that matter, anything that is utterly devoid of a soul.
LEWD: Are you guys going to keep drawing from the Clap song catalog during your live performances?
SHAWN CLAP: We'll do Clap covers, so long as the song is worthy of a Hellfire Boys Club rendition.
LEWD: Now what do I do if say I, wanted to get a copy of The Night The Condom Broke are those still available or did the other Clap make you take them off the market?
SHAWN CLAP: You go to where all the 'carpe-diem, live each night like it's yer last' punks go - the internet! www.hellfireboysclub.tk
LEWD: Should we expect to see more live appearances from the HBC than say the live output of your previous incarnation?
SHAWN CLAP: Granted, we've been notorious for our '12-minute-and-then-storm-off-the-stage' sets. I wish we had some deep, meaningful explanation for this sort of behavior, but it's basically just contempt for theaudience. I have nothing but contempt for my audience.
LEWD: Hopefully my add doesn’t annoy the shit out of you. Do you ever feel that people on the Island were glad to see The Loiterers pack up and split, so that they could disguise their “my mom cooks cookies while the kids have shows in the basement” nouveau Americana as something more decadent, and perpetuate that illusion unchallenged?
SHAWN CLAP: The Loiterers were a fine gang, pioneers on Long Island. In the beginning the kids who hung around were the real deal, no parents giving a shit about them at home. No expectations of a pleasant future some day. Kids who escaped from Juvie and would survive on their wits and courage. Those were the types of boys and girls that originally gravitated towards The Loiterers. But it couldn't survive, not with Ian Nihilate's all-encompassing lust for children. It clouds your judgment, you let outsiders replace insiders and, eventually, you have no choice but to flee into the night, under the cloak of darkness.
LEWD: I remember going to some Food Not Bombs benefit and the kid’s living room was bigger than Abc No Rio and Ground Zero combined. The funniest thing was his mother kept walking around and she wasn’t wearing a bra and had her high beams blaring. I think that was the only time I thought, “You know this isn’t so bad.”
SHAWN CLAP: Indeed, being wealthy, living in a large home and having a trophy wife with large mammory glands is quite underrated. I'm surprised more people don't try it.
LEWD: My old therapist stated that it was necessary to develop short term and long term goal plans, so with that said. What should we expect from Hellfire Boys Club this year?
SHAWN CLAP: I heard that your therapist mentioned you quite often in her Suicide Note.
LEWD: Okay for a closer I was just wondering, have you ever taken one of those craps where it’s caked inside your ass for days even after three days of wiping and showering? I dunno.. I really need to change my diet.
SHAWN CLAP: So, do you write these 'joke questions' yourself, or do you farm that sort of work out to professional comedians?
LEWD: Let’s say one of my readers wants to shit in a bag and mail it to you, where should they send it?
SHAWN CLAP: Haha, good one. We both know you don't have any readers.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Supreme Commander - The Lewd interview!!
I had a better intro written on the old hard drive that took a shit on me, so here's the less than spectacular one. SUPREME COMMANDER are a bunch of no good bastards from that no good city that's a short missle rocket launch from the bedroom where that piece of shit Dubya sleeps. They play a harsh style of H/C that recalls Leeway and Bad Brains during their better moments. Here's the present, here's the chat that I had with the band before they went out for an evening of felonious activity.
LEWD: Okay let's get the preliminary question out of the way. Who the hell is who and what do you contribute to Supreme Commander?
Dan: I am Dan. I play guitar and write songs.
Reiter: I play drums. Boo is our singer. Todd plays bass.
LEWD: Now the name Supreme Commander, was this influenced more by say Star Wars films than say D&D role playing manuals? Or are you just pc gaming geeks?
Dan: For the record: The chicken came before the egg and the band camebefore the game. We came up with it first and had no idea there would be ashitty computer game with the same name. If you're reading this and disagree, you can contact our legal representation at the Law Offices of Moneyberg and Dollarstein.
Reiter: Do you want to join my campaign? I've been running it for almost12 years. We meet on Wednesdays at the hobby shop behind the mall… SupremeCommander culled its moniker from a drunken conversation we had with thesinger of another band in our rehearsal studio. He claimed his father wasSupreme Commander of the Air Force. We thought it was both improbable andhilarious that there was a Supreme Commander of anything real. We'd beentossing around the usual batch of shitty band names: Poop Fight, Army ofPoop, Turd Soldier, Vorpal Sword when Dan suggested Supreme Commander, andhere we are.
LEWD: Here's a variation of a question that I asked Two Man Advantage. How didyou guys team up and decide to do a split 7" and how was it touring withthose sons of bitches?
Dan: Two Man rule in every way. Awesome dudes, funny as shit, nicest guysand those are some talented motherfuckers. Their live show is unbeatable.Touring with them was awesome. I know this from the pictures and storiesthat I've heard, because I don't remember most of it.
Reiter: Two Man owed me huge as I'd developed the hockey motif for themseveral years ago. They were intent on pushing this whole track-and-fieldthemed group and I told them straight up the idea was shit. For one thing,track shorts only look good on a certain physique and none of those boys arereally set up that way. Also, my old band toured with them while we were onGo-kart together and we became fast friends. I always thought it'd be greatto do a release with them and we made it happen.
LEWD: I was looking on your Myspace page and you have a thousand plus friendson there. How does this translate to live shows, are they coming out indroves or are the still being cyber hermits and staying home?
Dan: They pretty much all come to every show. Its crazy. We've been selling out arenas at every stop of the tour.
Reiter: I'm in another band that has, like, 4500 "friends" and it doesn'tseem to really translate into attendance. It's a lot easier to be someone's"friend" when all it means is clicking a button on a webpage.
LEWD: I noticed you have a lot of attractive women on there as friends too. Nowwhy not put in a good word for yours truly instead of being greedy and hogging them for all y'all?
Dan: This is not a problem. We're a family and we share everything. I'll send a few your way. Just don't blame me when they turn out to be fat 55-year-old men in real life.
LEWD: Let's talk about musical influences. I was listening to your stuff and ithas a sorta Leeway and Judge tone to it. Rather than me say what I think,what bands do you feel were influential in the shaping of the SC sound?
Dan : Well I grew up in NY at the time when those bands were playing soyeah. I don't think we draw specifically from Leeway but definitely from theera, sure. I think its cool that people hear influences that we don't evenmean but probably can't deny. I mean, we certainly aren't doing anythingrevolutionary. But I'd say Gorilla Biscuits, AF, Cro-Mags, Warzone, TokenEntry. Personally, I love all that shit. I also love bands like Dag Nasty, 7Seconds, Lifetime/Kid Dynamite, Kill Your Idols. Our bass player likesSuicidal, Anthrax, metallica and 80s cheese metal. And Boo brings someflavor that a Jew a Wop and Herr Reiter just don't have. Oh and by the way,I saw the Leeway reunion and they were better than Bad Brains (with JohnJoseph).Twenty years later and they were so fucking tight. That was cool.
Reiter: As far as "hardcore" goes, I'm more into the DC variant. Since highschool I've loved GI, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Soulside the Holy Rollers…Scream,too. I'm a lot less likely to listen to that stuff these days, but I stilllove and respect that music. Ya know, that's not even true. I just putGovernment Issue's "You" on my iPod last week. But these days, I'm a lotmore into soul and reggae and other stuff and that stuff creeps into thedrum parts.
LEWD: Let's talk about DC these days. I just seen a poster for Good Charlotteand apparently they're "DC's finest". Do you feel this to be an accurate claim?
Dan - Who? As far as I'm concerned, anyone who thinks GC is from DC, is representative of DC music or even gives a shit about them is not a person I am the leastbit concerned with. This band has nothing to do with DC or underground music. It certainly has nothing to do with underground music in DC. But honestly they are not a group that I or anyone else involved in DC Punk and HC spend any time thinking or talking about. I don't even think people hateon them. I care as much about Good Charlotte as I do about Nickelback.
Actually, that's not true, i know the words to Nickelback songs from beingin my car with a broken CD player and it's quite possible that I wouldn'teven know if I'm listening to Good Charlotte.
Something that IS worthtalking about is the fact that you can go see Alleged Bricks and watch KentStax play drums in DC. You've got bands like Magrudergrind and The Twats touring the country like fucking maniacs. Magrudergrind has something like10 7"s out and a 40 song CD discography. They've toured the country 2 or 3times and been to Europe. And they probably average about 19 or 20 yearsold. You've got Set To Explode, the new DC super group. DC fixtures, TheGoons, V.P.R. and a whole shitload of lesser known bands like Porch Mob,Official and more. These people all love what they're doing and makeabsolutely no money doing it. DC has its ups and downs but I think itspretty cool right now. I've noticed a lot more musical tolerance, differenttypes of bands and cross-genre support. Its cool and makes shows fun. Also,you have to remember that Baltimore is only an hour north of DC. And whilethe two scenes are separate and distinct, there is a lot of support betweenthe two cities. Its cool.
Reiter – The only people who consider Good Charlotte a "DC" band are in theband.
LEWD: Should we expect Supreme Commander to be totally anarchic and endorsing Nintendo Bongos any time soon?
Dan - Personally, I will endorse anything. Contact the legal department forthe paperwork and my fee structure.
Reiter – This is a strange question, my friend. It seems like a bit of a,you know, non sequitur. My answer is "fish."
LEWD: Since you guys are residents of the DC Home for Aging and Out of WorkPunk Rockers, how do you feel about witnessing stuff being touted as Punk and Hardcore and its nothing more than a upcoming jingle to sell sneakers orextreme flavor pop tarts?
Reiter – The commercial co-opting of punk has been on-going since the musicbegan. It doesn't really bother me in the slightest, really. People willassign their own value to the music and let it generate meaning in verypersonal ways. There's always going to be kids with spikes and crazy hairwho are really, really into punk and hardcore. No soda company can take thataway from them. The machinery is too vast and too exacting in its mission tofold sub-culture into mass culture. It's not even worth fighting in anythingbut the most personal and/or academic of ways. The fucking Clash are sellingcars now. Does that lessen their music? Not to me. Does it lessen them aspeople? A bit.
LEWD: I just seen a commercial for some new movie and the pitch line is, morepeople are voting for America's latest idol than voted in the last election,and while it's a funny way of selling a movie it's a pretty sad fuckingreflection on how things are. Since you're in DC do you feel the retardationradiating from the White House microwaving and scrambling people's brains orwhat?
Dan - I'm going to let the guy getting a Master's in Government field thisquestion.
Reiter – The government and its people are in a mutual breakup. They needsome space to get this whole Christian theocracy set up and we need sometime to not be stressed out about the truly diabolical shit theadministration is up to. I think it's really hard to have hope or to feelengaged right now. Government has never seemed more vast or less interestedin its responsibilities. We're supposed to be able to control this shit, andwe can't. It's an elected body that no longer feels any responsibility toits citizenry and I think it's created a groundswell of apathy. People feelpowerless against this shit. And, in a lot of ways, they are. So, yeah, it'sreally, really sad.
LEWD: Okay so what's the deal with a full length? Is that coming out any time soon?
Dan - well, we are actually in the studio working on an EP right now. Thesplit 7" with Two Man on Basement Records will be out any minute and our EPwill be released on A389 Records out of Baltimore right after the split.This is a great little label owned by Dom of The Slumlords. aka - hardestworking man in Hardcore. We can't wait to get this record done and out tothe people. I think we'll let people chew on those for a bit.
LEWD: My therapist, my old GM and my ex all asked this question, and godforbid if the answer is shitty, so I thought I'd throw it at you. What areyour plans for the future, where do you see yourself in 5 years? Do you still see us together in that picture… ooops okay omit that last part!
Dan - 5 years is along time Greg. Plus, with my luck I could fall into abarrel of tits and come out sucking my own thumb. Know what I mean? Our planis to write songs, record some records, play shows, make some kids run intoeach other and stay together until we all hate each other and can't take itanymore and break up, just like every other band...But I definitely see you in our future Greg. Its been more than 10 years now. I couldn't get rid ofyou when you lived down the block and now they have the Internet and eventhough you're 2000 miles away its like you're sitting right here with me.We're stuck with you... Hey, thanks a lot for the opportunity to spread thegood news. Good luck with the zine Greg and thanks for supporting us and TwoMan and promoting the record. Check's in the mail!
LEWD: Okay let's get the preliminary question out of the way. Who the hell is who and what do you contribute to Supreme Commander?
Dan: I am Dan. I play guitar and write songs.
Reiter: I play drums. Boo is our singer. Todd plays bass.
LEWD: Now the name Supreme Commander, was this influenced more by say Star Wars films than say D&D role playing manuals? Or are you just pc gaming geeks?
Dan: For the record: The chicken came before the egg and the band camebefore the game. We came up with it first and had no idea there would be ashitty computer game with the same name. If you're reading this and disagree, you can contact our legal representation at the Law Offices of Moneyberg and Dollarstein.
Reiter: Do you want to join my campaign? I've been running it for almost12 years. We meet on Wednesdays at the hobby shop behind the mall… SupremeCommander culled its moniker from a drunken conversation we had with thesinger of another band in our rehearsal studio. He claimed his father wasSupreme Commander of the Air Force. We thought it was both improbable andhilarious that there was a Supreme Commander of anything real. We'd beentossing around the usual batch of shitty band names: Poop Fight, Army ofPoop, Turd Soldier, Vorpal Sword when Dan suggested Supreme Commander, andhere we are.
LEWD: Here's a variation of a question that I asked Two Man Advantage. How didyou guys team up and decide to do a split 7" and how was it touring withthose sons of bitches?
Dan: Two Man rule in every way. Awesome dudes, funny as shit, nicest guysand those are some talented motherfuckers. Their live show is unbeatable.Touring with them was awesome. I know this from the pictures and storiesthat I've heard, because I don't remember most of it.
Reiter: Two Man owed me huge as I'd developed the hockey motif for themseveral years ago. They were intent on pushing this whole track-and-fieldthemed group and I told them straight up the idea was shit. For one thing,track shorts only look good on a certain physique and none of those boys arereally set up that way. Also, my old band toured with them while we were onGo-kart together and we became fast friends. I always thought it'd be greatto do a release with them and we made it happen.
LEWD: I was looking on your Myspace page and you have a thousand plus friendson there. How does this translate to live shows, are they coming out indroves or are the still being cyber hermits and staying home?
Dan: They pretty much all come to every show. Its crazy. We've been selling out arenas at every stop of the tour.
Reiter: I'm in another band that has, like, 4500 "friends" and it doesn'tseem to really translate into attendance. It's a lot easier to be someone's"friend" when all it means is clicking a button on a webpage.
LEWD: I noticed you have a lot of attractive women on there as friends too. Nowwhy not put in a good word for yours truly instead of being greedy and hogging them for all y'all?
Dan: This is not a problem. We're a family and we share everything. I'll send a few your way. Just don't blame me when they turn out to be fat 55-year-old men in real life.
LEWD: Let's talk about musical influences. I was listening to your stuff and ithas a sorta Leeway and Judge tone to it. Rather than me say what I think,what bands do you feel were influential in the shaping of the SC sound?
Dan : Well I grew up in NY at the time when those bands were playing soyeah. I don't think we draw specifically from Leeway but definitely from theera, sure. I think its cool that people hear influences that we don't evenmean but probably can't deny. I mean, we certainly aren't doing anythingrevolutionary. But I'd say Gorilla Biscuits, AF, Cro-Mags, Warzone, TokenEntry. Personally, I love all that shit. I also love bands like Dag Nasty, 7Seconds, Lifetime/Kid Dynamite, Kill Your Idols. Our bass player likesSuicidal, Anthrax, metallica and 80s cheese metal. And Boo brings someflavor that a Jew a Wop and Herr Reiter just don't have. Oh and by the way,I saw the Leeway reunion and they were better than Bad Brains (with JohnJoseph).Twenty years later and they were so fucking tight. That was cool.
Reiter: As far as "hardcore" goes, I'm more into the DC variant. Since highschool I've loved GI, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Soulside the Holy Rollers…Scream,too. I'm a lot less likely to listen to that stuff these days, but I stilllove and respect that music. Ya know, that's not even true. I just putGovernment Issue's "You" on my iPod last week. But these days, I'm a lotmore into soul and reggae and other stuff and that stuff creeps into thedrum parts.
LEWD: Let's talk about DC these days. I just seen a poster for Good Charlotteand apparently they're "DC's finest". Do you feel this to be an accurate claim?
Dan - Who? As far as I'm concerned, anyone who thinks GC is from DC, is representative of DC music or even gives a shit about them is not a person I am the leastbit concerned with. This band has nothing to do with DC or underground music. It certainly has nothing to do with underground music in DC. But honestly they are not a group that I or anyone else involved in DC Punk and HC spend any time thinking or talking about. I don't even think people hateon them. I care as much about Good Charlotte as I do about Nickelback.
Actually, that's not true, i know the words to Nickelback songs from beingin my car with a broken CD player and it's quite possible that I wouldn'teven know if I'm listening to Good Charlotte.
Something that IS worthtalking about is the fact that you can go see Alleged Bricks and watch KentStax play drums in DC. You've got bands like Magrudergrind and The Twats touring the country like fucking maniacs. Magrudergrind has something like10 7"s out and a 40 song CD discography. They've toured the country 2 or 3times and been to Europe. And they probably average about 19 or 20 yearsold. You've got Set To Explode, the new DC super group. DC fixtures, TheGoons, V.P.R. and a whole shitload of lesser known bands like Porch Mob,Official and more. These people all love what they're doing and makeabsolutely no money doing it. DC has its ups and downs but I think itspretty cool right now. I've noticed a lot more musical tolerance, differenttypes of bands and cross-genre support. Its cool and makes shows fun. Also,you have to remember that Baltimore is only an hour north of DC. And whilethe two scenes are separate and distinct, there is a lot of support betweenthe two cities. Its cool.
Reiter – The only people who consider Good Charlotte a "DC" band are in theband.
LEWD: Should we expect Supreme Commander to be totally anarchic and endorsing Nintendo Bongos any time soon?
Dan - Personally, I will endorse anything. Contact the legal department forthe paperwork and my fee structure.
Reiter – This is a strange question, my friend. It seems like a bit of a,you know, non sequitur. My answer is "fish."
LEWD: Since you guys are residents of the DC Home for Aging and Out of WorkPunk Rockers, how do you feel about witnessing stuff being touted as Punk and Hardcore and its nothing more than a upcoming jingle to sell sneakers orextreme flavor pop tarts?
Reiter – The commercial co-opting of punk has been on-going since the musicbegan. It doesn't really bother me in the slightest, really. People willassign their own value to the music and let it generate meaning in verypersonal ways. There's always going to be kids with spikes and crazy hairwho are really, really into punk and hardcore. No soda company can take thataway from them. The machinery is too vast and too exacting in its mission tofold sub-culture into mass culture. It's not even worth fighting in anythingbut the most personal and/or academic of ways. The fucking Clash are sellingcars now. Does that lessen their music? Not to me. Does it lessen them aspeople? A bit.
LEWD: I just seen a commercial for some new movie and the pitch line is, morepeople are voting for America's latest idol than voted in the last election,and while it's a funny way of selling a movie it's a pretty sad fuckingreflection on how things are. Since you're in DC do you feel the retardationradiating from the White House microwaving and scrambling people's brains orwhat?
Dan - I'm going to let the guy getting a Master's in Government field thisquestion.
Reiter – The government and its people are in a mutual breakup. They needsome space to get this whole Christian theocracy set up and we need sometime to not be stressed out about the truly diabolical shit theadministration is up to. I think it's really hard to have hope or to feelengaged right now. Government has never seemed more vast or less interestedin its responsibilities. We're supposed to be able to control this shit, andwe can't. It's an elected body that no longer feels any responsibility toits citizenry and I think it's created a groundswell of apathy. People feelpowerless against this shit. And, in a lot of ways, they are. So, yeah, it'sreally, really sad.
LEWD: Okay so what's the deal with a full length? Is that coming out any time soon?
Dan - well, we are actually in the studio working on an EP right now. Thesplit 7" with Two Man on Basement Records will be out any minute and our EPwill be released on A389 Records out of Baltimore right after the split.This is a great little label owned by Dom of The Slumlords. aka - hardestworking man in Hardcore. We can't wait to get this record done and out tothe people. I think we'll let people chew on those for a bit.
LEWD: My therapist, my old GM and my ex all asked this question, and godforbid if the answer is shitty, so I thought I'd throw it at you. What areyour plans for the future, where do you see yourself in 5 years? Do you still see us together in that picture… ooops okay omit that last part!
Dan - 5 years is along time Greg. Plus, with my luck I could fall into abarrel of tits and come out sucking my own thumb. Know what I mean? Our planis to write songs, record some records, play shows, make some kids run intoeach other and stay together until we all hate each other and can't take itanymore and break up, just like every other band...But I definitely see you in our future Greg. Its been more than 10 years now. I couldn't get rid ofyou when you lived down the block and now they have the Internet and eventhough you're 2000 miles away its like you're sitting right here with me.We're stuck with you... Hey, thanks a lot for the opportunity to spread thegood news. Good luck with the zine Greg and thanks for supporting us and TwoMan and promoting the record. Check's in the mail!
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