Interview with Until The End bassist Dan, by Eric.
1.) Ok first off I’d like to say I think Until The End is easily one of the overall best straight up hardcore band out right now. So I’ll ask the cliche zine interview question to start things off. Who are your main influences? You know what, every one of us has such a wide array of influences, it’s really hard to pinpoint just a few bands. We play the music that we play because it is basically the 1 style that all of us can agree on. It’s fun to play live, and it isn’t a terrible taxing ordeal to write song. For me, I’m a terrible fucking musician.This is the only type of music I can get away with. Musically, the main band that made me want to start my own band is the Descendents.Perfection. And I’m listening to Norah Jones right now. Amazing record.
2) The first Until The End cd had two vocalists. Mean Pete and Alan Landsman. The newer Until The End albums just feature Mean Pete. What happened to Alan? Alan wasn’t into the band anymore. He had a job that took up a lot of his time. He also wasn’t sure if living sXe was good for him. Take that as you will, but for us, there was no question. He was kicked out/ asked to leave, whatever. He knew he wasn’t going to be in the band anymore, he was just waiting for us to say it. He just joined a band from down here called Target Nevada. His voice sounds nothing like it did in UTE. They are more of a metal band. To be honest, Alan’s departure wasn’t really a big deal. All it did was give Mean Pete the chance to step up, and he really impressed us. After Alan left, MP and I began sharing lyrical duties. It’s nice, since neither of us have the burden of writing every single song for the band, and it gives 2 different perspectives on things. The 2 of us always go over all of the lyrics and placement together. It takes the stress away.
3.) The first release was on Equal Vision Records. You and John UTE run Eulogy Records which released your last two albums Blood in The Ink and Let The World Burn. Why did you guys decide to release the first album on Equal Vision? Well, the guys at EVR were kind enough to due us a huge favor and put out that EP. They took a big risk by putting that out. It could have been completely ignored, but we lucked out, and a few people found it. We wouldn’t be where we are at if it weren’t for them, and we’re thankful for what they did. When it came time to putting out BITI, we just got the feeling that they didn’t really want to put it out. They hadn’t heard it or anything, but we knew that their focus was with bands that toured. And us, hell we never toured more than 3-4 shows over a weekend. And that was rare…So we asked if we could put it out ourselves, and they said it was no problem. No hard feelings. So we brought it here, and it worked out great…I really don’t think UTE could be on any other label. It just wouldn’t be fair to the label..We work on a totally random schedule. We write songs when we feel like it, and put out records when we feel like it.
4.) Who is the song “your sad fucking life” directed at? Uhhhh.Next…sorry man, some things are better left unsaid.
5.) Any plans on playing in the New York area in the near future? As of now, we have no plans. All we want to do is finish up the new record, then we’ll talk.
6.) Until the End is a straight edge band. Were you always straight edge, did you ever try drinking or smoking? Me personally, I tried a beer and cigarette within 5 minutes of each other, and was terribly underwhelmed. Typical 12 year old kid stuff. I tried it, and that was it. It just never came up again with me. I was never interested in trying anything. I aligned myself with sXe because it matched up with my decisions for life. It wasn’t the other way around. I haven’t shifted my beliefs of feelings to maintain status as “edge”. That’s fucking rediculous, and it’s sad that there are kids who do that. It’s sad that so many kids are struggling to gain acceptance that they would do anything other than what their heart tells them. Be sXe only if it is something that you would do regardless of hardcore music. Otherwise, you are a fucking phony. And believe it or not, that is a character trait that you will carry with you as you get older. I know that I don’t want to be considered a fucking phony 10-15 years from now. I want to be able to look back at this fucking interview and not be embarassed or ashamed of anything in it.
7.) On the Let The World Burn album, you have some live tracks done in Switzerland, and the crowd seemed really into it. What is the hardcore scene like there? You know what, that show was at this big fucking rock club. It was a really nice place, Olivier, the promoter, was a great dude. The show was just us and 1 other band. The crowd was sparse, maybe a hundred kids. But those kids were so fucking into it, it was really great.We were playing a 11-12 song set over there, because they expect bands to play more than 20-30 minutes like over here. Those kids were so fucking pysched, they made us play 12 songs, plus 2 extra “encore” songs, and then we played 3 songs that we had already played over again. That was one of the most fun shows I’ve ever played, although I was ill, and felt like utter shit…Geneva was a pretty odd place. We were walking around, and these 2 molester lookin dudes started following us. We were getting ready get mugged, or fight, but then they just came up and offered us some drugs. Whatever…Then about 2 minutes later some average looking dude walks by us carrying a giant fucking assault weapon. It was like a crazy big machine gun. Totally nonchalant. Guys just walks by and smiles..Weird fucking night
8.) UTE has played on Warped Tour, did the kids have any idea what hit them when you played? Man, I fucking hate Warped Tour more than anything on earth. That is the absolute worst thing that has happened to music. We played the “event” down here. Our friend Kevin, who runs punkrocks.net, asked us if we would play, so we said sure…I have been on tour with a band that did Warped for around 2 weeks.Those 2 weeks were some of the worst of my life…The struggling bands that play the small stages get treated like shit. They don’t get paid, they don’t get food, they get pushed around and treated like dirt. It’s fucking bullshit. For Warped to say they don’t have even 50 bucks to give the band for gas, it’s a fucking joke. So yeah, we played, about 100 of our friends watched, danced hard, and pretty much scared the fuck out of anyone passing by. We were fortunate enough to have the Drive Thru stage about 400 feet from our stage. So just in case people were wondering what UTE sounds like when mixed with RX Bandits, that was their day to find out. The weirdest thing about the show was that all of these people I went to high school with were there, and saw us play.I kept a low profile about having a band, and only my friends and the HC kids at school knew about it…But all of these assclowns I was in school with were there and were like, “yeah Dan, you guys rock.” What the fuck? Don’t fucking patronize me. I’ll cut you motherfucker.hahaha.It made me really uncomfortable and I fucking split within 5 minutes of playing. Luckily, it started to rain the second I got to my car. So my equipment, my girlfriend, and I were all spared getting covered in fucking mud.
9.) UTE has had a different drummer on each of the three cd releases, the last release, Let The World Burn, has ex Walls Of Jericho drummer Wes. On the Eulogy website, it lists ex Against All Authority drummer John Badguy. Set the records straight who is your drummer right now? That’s Jason Badguy. He is filling in for us. He has been writing stuff with us and probaly will be recording it as well. He has played 3 of our biggest shows ever, our 2 Cali shows and Hellfest 2003. He’s a great friend doing us a HUGE fucking favor. We probaly would have split up if he didn’t step in and help out. Thanks for lookin out Badguy.
10.) Any final thoughts/comments? Remember that Norah Jones cd I mentioned in the 1st question? Yeah, it’s that amazing. go buy it. Thanks.