HELLO BASTARDS

Some months ago I was surfing on the net, searching for some good things to listen.   I discovered Hello Bastards and I was immediately stocked the first time I heard about them  for both music (really great crust/hardcore) and lyrics. A Vegan straight edge band based in London but with members coming from different countries. Here we have an interview I made few months ago with Maxxx.

how started "hello bastards" project? I see that everyone involved in the band is from a different country; how do you live this thing?

Maxxx: Hello Bastards started back in early 2006 as a collective with mainly people from South America (Argentina and Brazil) with the purpose to bring back the importance of the message over the music. With the time, and due to different issues like visas and restrictions to stay in England affecting some of the previous members, we ended up having people from different parts of the world such as Israel, Poland England and Germany playing in the band. We don't believe in flags, countries and borders so for us, what matters is who you are, much more than from where you are from so it was almost a natural progression that the band ended up by having people from different countries. Also, as a side note, I believe that it’s a bit like London, the city where we live, which is a melting pot of different nationalities.

everyone in the band is vegan straight edge, right? what does it mean this choice to you nowadays? do you feel this choice in some way different compared with the same made some years ago in your life?

Maxxx: Indeed, we are and have always been a vegan straight edge band. From my personal point of view, I believe that it’s a much needed stance nowadays, where we are in a constant hazard of pollution, either mental or physical and by this, I mean that we live in a world where the commercialisation of our lives it’s at one of the highest points in the history of humanity. In general, we are pushed to consume unnecessary things in order to keep us controlled and not to think by ourselves and on the other hand, we still take as a standard that the systematic murder and slavery of animals is necessary for our subsistence. All this, it is NOT necessary and actually damaging. By being vegan and straight edge, we are already taking a political stance against society that it’s much needed nowadays. Of course, being vegan and straight edge is not the end goal but just the beginning of the path to attain our complete freedom as individuals and as a liberated society as a whole.

What would you answering to a person who's asking you "why are you vegan"?
   

Maxxx: For me, there is not ONE reason on why you should be vegan. I believe that there are several reasons: political, social, economic and personal reasons on why to be a vegan.

Political, because it is utterly necessary to have a stand against the actual status quo on where we live, animals are no commodities and by being vegan you are refusing to enter into this world in decay. Traditions are here to be broken and the consumption of animals is one of the first that needs to be broken.

Social and economic, because our actual culture related to food is unsustainable, we are destroying the seas, jungles and forests. We are using cereals and vegetables that could feed us to feed cattle raised for the madness of the slaughterhouses. All this needs to stop; we are converting humanity in the biggest plague that ever existed in this world.

 

in this period in Italy, but maybe in the rest of the world, we see an approach of the right-fascist wings to some questions such as veganism, animalism and antispeciesism too, using the same symbology of A.L.F. and antispeciesists around the world.

I really hate this thing personally, but what do you think about it? and what do you think about all the people who say "it doesn't matter! it's a great thing for the animals because the more we are, the better it is!"?

Maxxx: Fascism and conservative ideas can't be linked or supported by people fighting for animal liberation, either organisations or even at a personal level. Fascism goes against real freedom, either human or animal.

And let's not forget that the right chooses to talk about the past because it prefers dead people: a quiet world, a quiet time. The powerful who legitimise their privileges by heredity cultivate nostalgia and that past is not one that had room for liberated animals or non slave humans.

 

what does it mean to you D.I.Y. attitude?

The right way to answer this question, is in fact, what does D.I.Y doesn't mean for us: the lack of union between the different so-called scenes (punks, hardcore, AR, etc), "corporativism" in a scene that should be fighting that, and with this, I mean bands selling themselves like goods, talking about "revolution" but playing in mainstream venues and dealing with booking agencies, the eye on the personal profit because for us, music is not to make money but to put across a message, open minds and create a constructive discussion. And I believe that this is a key point, discussion and criticism, because no one has the right answers and to be challenged and to challenge your ideas is something incredible that needs to remain as part of the D.I.Y.

What does D.I.Y. means? Starting with the basic notion that Hardcore/Punk is much more than just music, D.I.Y. means collectivism, not waiting for anyone to do it for you, there is always certain laziness when you to get to the point that something needs to happen, either putting a show or just going to it or more important situations like taking actions, political actions, or at least to take a political position and be conscious and sincere about it. Spreading a message, because music with a message is like an empty package, without substance.

We consider Hello Bastards as a collective more than a music group, where ideas are more important than how you look or how good you play. At our shows we always have a info stall with several anarcho/political, AR/veganism booklets that we give for free. With Hello Bastards, we believe that sometimes bands can go to the stage, play their music, sing their songs but maybe the message will not come across to the people and that's why we also like to have this free info stall because if at least one person picks up a booklet/leaflet and this changes his approach to this world, that will be more important than anything else.

 

In these months we observed to all the riots around the middle est of the world; to how people from anger and rage destroyed the old and stupid governments based on fear and oppression...what do you think about all this situation? what about the situation in Libya where foreign governments and NATO are giving support to the people which want to destroy Gheddafi's system?

Maxxx: Well, this a delicate topic to discuss because we still don't have a complete and clear picture of the situations that started the uprising in some of the countries in the North of Africa and the Middles East and the results out of this. Also, each country had a different socio-political situation, even if they were similar; the situations that lead to the uprisings in, for example, Tunisia and Egypt were different.

Of course, it is invigorating and inspiring to see that the union of people can make a difference and that can lead to a change. From a euro perspective (even though, I'm not European), I believe that we can take some lessons and start to be much more active to try to bring a real change and literally overthrow the capitalist world in which we are exploited, and Greece is an example on how people can resist and try to refuse economic initiatives created with the only purpose to suck as many resources as possible.

In the case of Libya, there is another ingredient on why there is such a vast media coverage and interest from Western Powers, which is their oil. I can't see the same situation and in a way, urgency, in some other parts of the world where people is facing oppression, Palestine, Yemen, Burma, etc.

War is business and business is good!

 

"straight edge is dead you are next; hardcore is dead born to expire; rebellion is dead, it's all a cliché"

could you explain us why do you think these things?

Maxxx: The so called "sXe scene" but also the hardcore/punk scene in general has grown to be apolitical, a commodity of the mercantilism invading our lives, creating "ready made rebellion" to be bough and available 24 hours per day.

There is a lack of urgency and a dose of reality and a long road to exchange words by actions.

Being drug free/sXe is a political statement, by refusing auto-forced control and unnecessarily created ways of blocking our actions but at the end, all this evaporates once you start to see that people is more interested on how to look and how many records you get from eBay other than to use this political tool that you have in your hands.

I mentioned before the long road to exchange words by actions and by this, I refer to the situations where words are easily used; revolution and rebellion is freely used as part of the basic dictionary but in contrast, actions seems to be purely restricted to a "fairy tale".

 

musically speaking, what are the bands  which are inspiring hello bastards? who does write the lyrics of the band?

Maxxx: Personally, any band with an interesting and politically orientated message will inspire me. Musically, from Dropdead to Infest, Amebix to Warcollapse. Mostly power violence, anarko punk or crust.

Even though, I wrote most of the lyrics, we all contribute in one way or another to the lyrics and overall message of the band.
 

what are your future plans as band?

Maxxx: The plan is to release a 12" during 2011, maybe a 7" split and then go on tour as much as we can!

any final word?

Maxxx: Thanks for the space to express our ideas!
To get in touch with the band visit: www.myspace.com/hellobastardsxxx
or write to: xhellobastardsx@hotmail.com

FROM THE DEPTHS

This interview was made with Brian few months ago; I'm really sorry if I'm putting this online only now. For me "From the Depths" are one of the most influential bands around. Born from the ashes of Catharsis and Requiem, they play a fast, melancholic, angry crust/hardcore with direct and really smart lyrics. A great band with a lot of things to say.


Introduce yourself as band, but in particular as individuals.

From the Depths is Neal, Rob, Monica, Steve, and me, Brian.

What do you think about all the riots that we have nowadays in middle-est?
from what point do you think they start, and why everything is happening only now?

Capitalism is entering a new period of crisis. Because technological progress has reduced the need for workers and so much of the wealth of the world has been concentrated in a few hands, the old ways of collecting profits and keeping discontent under control are breaking down. That’s why there are so many people unemployed in the mid-East, while other people have billions and billions of dollars. We’re going to see a lot more uprisings like the ones in Tunisia and Egypt. It’s up to us to help offer the possibility of fighting for real positive change, for true freedom, not for “better democracy” or any other lies like that… or, worse, for fucking fascism. This is an extremely important time ahead.

Sometimes it happens to ear words such as primitivism, but maybe it’s explained in a wrong way; it seems that people have a wrong idea about it, considering it more like a misanthropic-nihilistic attitude, than a kind of green revolution.
what’s your idea about it, and how do you live this idea in your life?

It seems that Italy and Spain are some of the only places in Europe that understand primitivism, no? For me, really opposing oppression means questioning Western civilization, which has done so much horrible damage to other societies that knew a lot more about living in harmony with the natural environment. I don’t know if I would call myself a primitivist—the wild nature we used to live in has been mostly destroyed, and even after a revolution we will have to survive in ruins, not in a forest—but all of us are critical of what you might call “civilization.”
We’re not just fighting for the workers to own the factories, but to end the industrial destruction of the natural world. That destruction can’t be separated from the projects of colonization and racism—the idea of revolution isn’t to make ourselves the rulers of the world, but to make an end of “ruling” itself. I don’t think this is misanthropic nihilism, but rather a part of trying to reconnect with the world that human beings lived in harmony with for the first one million years of our existence.
As for how we live this in our lives—it influences all the different anarchist projects we are involved in, shaping our goals when we are organizing for community events or social struggles. I guess some of us try to reconnect with nature on a personal basis, too, like Monica planting gardens and studying herbal medicine. And of course we try to help with struggles against pollution and environmental damage.

During these days i’m thinking about the idea of “happines” because it seems that in our modern society we are not able to be happy anymore and even when we reach our goals and we should be happy, this happiness can’t find a right place in our life; it seems that it’s just considered more like the end of a pain; do you feel the same thing or not? could you explain what’s your idea about it?

Personally, when I became an anarchist I set out to see if it was possible to live a truly free and happy life in this fucked up world. I have had lots of beautiful experiences, but things are still very sad usually, with so many of the things that make life matter being destroyed or taken away. In the moments when we are fighting together, when we take over a space and establish a new destiny for ourselves inside it, then I can feel a true happiness; but I never can get that from just trying to enjoy the pathetic luxuries of consumer society. But I’m a crazy anarchist; I’m different from most people, who have figured out how to accommodate themselves to this system, and have never experienced anything else.

One of the songs that I really like of your last LP is “Martyr”; but for you, Who are the real martyrs of this society?

All of us are, I suppose. The song is about soldiers, specifically, but it also could apply to anyone who reduces himself to an instrument serving one ideology in the infinity of the world.
A funny thing about throwing your life away is that it’s much easier to do it when you’re doing something that everyone else approves of and encourages. I think that in some ways it is harder for a young person in the US to break a window of a bank—thus violating all the rules and values she has been taught her whole life—than it is for people to join the army and go kill civilians and even get killed. There is a tremendous propaganda machine justifying the soldiers’ activity, along with centuries of traditions. But the vandal who breaks the bank windows has to take personal responsibility for her actions, reinventing the value system of an entire society inside herself. That’s true courage.

How was born the collaboration with next victim?

Monica and I have loved their music since they started! It is an honor for us to share a record with a band we like so much. Some of the members were in Mind Pollution, another great band, that a previous band I was in (Requiem) played with when we toured Europe in 2005.

Are you all vegan in the band? how do you live this choice day by day?

I’m the only strict vegan in the band. Everyone in the band thinks about animal liberation and about resisting capitalism, but people have different ideas of what the most effective ways to do that are. In the US, some anticapitalists are also critiquing veganism, arguing that it gives the impression that different consumer choices can solve our problems, rather than revolutionary struggle. The processes through which vegetables are industrially mass-produced are also destructive and exploitative and alienating. For me, though, veganism and revolutionary struggle together is the best solution. Everything is a compromise in some way or another, except the moment when you are working in the neighborhood community garden or wearing a mask and liberating animals from laboratories. All of us choose the compromises that feel right for us personally while remaining committed to doing a lot more than just picking “the right foods” in a supermarket.
But I will never eat animal products again. It makes me too fucking angry. It reminds me of the way they treat us as workers, using up our lives—only it’s even worse.

Nowadays with internet, facebook, twitter and all the stuff like these, I think that we are closer one to each other, it’s possible to share in a best way our thoughts, our fears and our dreams, but there are a lot of darkest parts inside everything; how you look at this thing? is everything positive for you or do you feel some negative aspects in all this?

I think that the new technologies are basically “new enclosures” of something that used to be free and uncontrollable. Hundreds of years ago, the aristocrats put fences around the common land that peasants had shared; this was the beginning of capitalism. In the same way, now that capitalism has conquered and used up almost the whole planet, our own mental processes and social networks are being colonized—things we didn’t used to have to go through technology to access. Riding in the subway, you can see that social class determines exactly how much access people have to each other and the assembled knowledge of our civilization. Now those too poor to afford computers are not just second class citizens, but second class human beings. In a non-capitalist world, perhaps we would develop different technologies from these same starting points, technologies that could be truly empowering and liberating. In the meantime, we try to find the best things about the current technologies: specifically, the ways we can use them to work towards overthrowing the capitalist system.

What’s the last movie and the last book that you have read and that you can recommend to our readers?

I’m afraid that at my age, my tastes are somewhat pretentious and obscure! Right now I’m just finishing up Milan Kundera’s book The Joke, and the most recent movie I really enjoyed was Tinto Brass’s l’Urlo. I guess I also saw Office Space recently, which was funny and sort of dumb but had a little bit of rebellion hidden in it.

Any future plan with the band? maybe another tour in Europe?

I’m afraid our band probably won’t make it back to Europe. I would love to, but we are now really busy with other things. Steve lives on a boat in the ocean, as a way of avoiding rent and work, so he’s rarely around. Neal is really busy with anarchist projects supporting prisoners and rebellion inside prisons. Monica is busy studying herbal health care and working with me and others on publishing projects, like the magazine Rolling Thunder. We will at least play some more shows in the US, though.

Here's our information, for anyone who wants to contact us: www.fromthedepths.info

Thanks again!