Antagonist

Michael Crafter goes head to head with Antagonist frontman about midgets, gambing and old school hardcore!

Interview w/ Sam (Vocals) of Antagonist  

By Michael Crafter 

So you sing for Antagonist from New

in the world and tour?

Ha ha! Is that a serious question? Wow ha ha! Yeah Australia is a good

place and we are definitely lucky to be able to play shows all over

our own country let alone go to overseas.  

What’s different about Australia compared to New Zealand? I know

“Chopper” Reid is a fucking legend.  

You guys don't have massive volcanoes everywhere. You just got that

big rock.. Australia is brown and orange. We are green.  

If some old man put cash down on the table in front of the whole

How much cash would it cost him? 

Say $50 and $20  in casino chips? It depends if we got smashed

at the casino. If we did me or Iz would ‘jenkins’ for it, or maybe

double team and ride it on black? But if we are talking just for pure

pleasure, then Ross would be all over it  

When times get tough on tour people in the band start getting stressed.

happens with every band.

Wow we actually haven’t had that yet. Oh get ready for it…that was

me. I do it every tour with every band. I guess going to Europe in the

winter we tell each other to quit sometimes, that’s about as worse

as it gets. Tour beats being at home working in NZ.  

The band is made up of vegan and vegetarian members. You’re known

Do u think you’re changing anyone’s thoughts or views? 

It’s mental, we've gotten heaps of messages from kids saying we opened

there eyes to vego/veganism and just 'inspired' them to look into it.

And that's fucking amazing and more than I could ever ask for. Just

to have one kid do it, let alone more and more. Was it you that said

how many vegans does it take to change a light bulb?? None because vegans

don’t change shit. That better not be coming up next...  

When you die what song will be played at your funeral? I already

‘Comatose’ and I’m dying first… 

I was thinking about this the other day. ‘Everybody Hurts’ by R.E.M

definitely. I kind of wanted ‘Freebird’ too but I don’t know.

‘Pedro The Lion’ & Converge’s ‘Jane Doe’ too.  

Who is the best hardcore band to come out New Zealand? Most people

and have since broken up.

We had some greats - DSM, Balance, Kill Me Quickly. I'd say its between

those three. There were some amazing bands that went completely under

the radar - Daredevil, The Redshift.  

Is a follow up

So when is the next release coming? 

Ha ha, yeah! We can do shirts with seashells and recycling signs on

them too. We are writing stuff at the moment. We need a few more songs

but I’m so psyched on the way the new stuff is coming along. We want

to have it out early next year - hoping by March at latest. But at the

same time, we want to put out the best thing we can do, so we are spending

more time on the songs than we have before, so far its paying off.  

Is their anything new coming out of New Zealand for people to check

out?  Don’t say The Bleeders… 

Ha ha! New Bleeders cd is gonna be good.

New chase cd is gonna be huge, definitely get that.. This young Hamilton

band called Cry Wolf should have a release sometime that'll be fucking

great and there's a band in Wellington called Strangers that just put

out a cd called ‘Weight’ - dudes who like Deathwish stuff will love

it.  

If you could pick one song that you think has actually made a change

in the hardcore/metalcore scene, what would the song be? 

Are we talking NZ or internationally?

Thats a huge question.  

Um internationally - DSM's ‘Talk Is Cheap’ and other songs about

of the dudes are either hessians or wannabe rock stars!  

Haha alright. Um, you can pick out so much that has caused ripples ethically,

socially or musically. It’s hard to choose one. Right now what’s

plaguing my mind is shit like Job For A Cowboy or Bring Me The Horizon

now taking metalcore further away from hardcore.   

Firestorm brother. You shouldn’t

have even had to think about it twice.

Well I didn’t want to take the easy answer.  

What are your thoughts on bands working less and relying more on

and hasn’t got anything to do with the D.I.Y ethic.  

Nah not at all. I mean there are all these things you can utilize to

make shit easier, but sitting on your ass all day adding friends ain't

hardcore. But you know, real hardcore kids will recognize the real bands

and the kids doing it for the right reasons. In all fairness, the internet

got us to Australia.. At the same time though, I have never sat down

all day on the net adding friends or sucking e-dick to get my band anywhere,

and I know so many bands that do that and it's fucking annoying. You

have to pay your dues.  

When it’s all said and done, what do you want from being in a band?

playing some shows and hanging with mates.  

Dude that’s what it's all about! Playing shows, hanging with my best

friends meeting new people everyday and just being constantly surrounded

by like minded people. Not necessarily all of them but mostly dudes

that give a shit and know the world is fucked. I can escape and hang

in this kind of unreal world aside from the bullshit system. You know

this way more than me, but how is it I have seen so many places and

things and met so many people just because I grabbed a mic one day and

sung a Minor Threat cover and thought it'd be fun to do a band? 

Do you ever think sitting down and writing lyrics that mean

these days? 

I think it does, I mean only if it’s a trend. At the end of it all

I think there will always be that one kid that you just ignite something

in and that makes it all worth it. I mean even I piss someone off and

they hate everything I have to say and want to pull it all apart, at

least they are doing something too. You know? Ha ha! At the same time

you gotta be genuine and sincere, you cant write some bullshit and expect

everyone to be like wow he cares about the world when you're talking

out of your arse. I think it's part of being in a hardcore band. You

just get that aggression no matter where its from, if its heart felt

it will definitely make some form of difference. Sometimes those meaningless

'girl' songs get you through shit times too you know? 

Do u have anything else to say about life, chicks, vegan food, wooden

beer crates and the Hamilton Casino?

I was at the casino earlier tonight and watched a drunk American midget

lose $2000 on black jack. Last words = buy the Chase album when it comes out and keep an eye out

for ours. I think we are back in February for a couple of shows too…

For more info check out: http://www.myspace.com/alwaystheantagonist