Their new “S/t” album came out not too long ago on Fearless Records. The third album from this Florida hardcore band signs a progression for this kids: they let the old singer go a but they keep on trying to mix melody and hardcore all together. This interview is what came out after a talk to Anthony, bass player for Glasseater, who talks about the band and their new record.

Julio from Glasseater is on the photos section of truepunk.com, showing off his tats on his webcam.
Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Anthony . Hi ! How are you doing? 
Hey I’m good and urself?Hopefully good

Can you introduce yourself and say what you play in Glasseater ?
I’m Anthony and I play bass in Glasseater.

Even tough you already released three albums, Glasseater is a quite new band - would you tell us a story of how you got together and stuff ?
We started off in 1998 as friends that all were in the hardcore scene.. it started off with Jc and Julio and it was first sort of a prog rock band. They asked Ariel to play guitar also who was also in a old school band with Julio at the time called Destro. Then Jason tried out for the singing position. Him and I were in another band called Set Apart…so then thats how I was asked to be in the band..anyhow 3 or 4 years down the line Jason parted ways with us and Julio moved from drums to vocals and after a bunch of searching, we found dave our current drummer and thats our current lineup.

After an album on Ides of March Records and another one of Eulogy if I don’t go wrong, you signed with Fearless. How did you feel it was time for a new label and why ?
Well we had already been on Eulogy for about a year and Fearless got in contact with us and it was an opportunity to open up our music to a bigger crowd so we went with Fearless and are still with them .

Your previous records, “Miles Ahead of Where We Left Off” and “7 Years Bad Luck” were a bit different than the new “S/t” album. Is there some reason why you started to play more melodic, almost pop punk tunes, rather than the old hardcore inspired songs?
Nah, musically it’s the same…the only thing, the self titled album was released after almost 2 years of nothing so we progressed a bunch musically, still keeping it melodic and still with our hard edged sound..and of course its going to sound different since Julio is singing on it.. he has a great voice so theres more singing in the new album but theres also the screaming that weve always had.

How would you describe your music, both musically and lyrically ?
Musically I’d say post hardcore with punk influences…really melodic, heavy and very catchy..lyrically its about friends, our daily lives, and the things weve been doing for 4 years.<

I know that your old singer Jason went away from the band, and now your drummer Julio takes care of the vocals - are you still in good releationships with the old singer ? Do you think you can do it without him ?
Yea totally, we always talk to Jason. hes doing really good and actually started a side project thats realy good..but yea, we’ve managed without him. At first it was tough on tour but julio managed to make a great frontman .

Did Jason also sang on the new album ? Because there are some parts ( ie “screams”) that remind me of the old vocalist - did Jason sing some part for the new record ?
Nah all the vocals on the new record are all Julio. singing and screaming

Fearless Records told me you’re busy on tour right now. How is it going and where and with whom are you playing ? Are you having fun ?
We’re home now. We just got home today, it was with Rx Bandits and Lost City Angels..both bands awesome guys and musicians.. we all had a good time hanging out.it was out west and we love it there..we had an awesome time..it sux that it came to an end so fast though cuz we became good friends with those guys.

Is there some fun thing you would like to share with you fans reading this interview ?
Haha well just on this tour we did, our trailor broke down and we had to buy a new one last minute and we got a 6×12…its huge! but its awesome were all really happy with it..although we’re in debt and came back broke after the tour, its all good…and also in Kansas while we were in a rest stop, Julio got out of the van to pee on behind the van, and right before he got to pee, a state trooper saw him and got pissed, screamed at him saying that he was peeing when he didnt even start to pee and Julio told him he wasn’t peeing and the cop got pissed and decided to be a jerk and arrest him ..so we ended up  spenging the whole afternoon waiting for him to get out…and while he was in jail people were asking him what he was in for..and he was afraid to say for attempting to pee cuz he thought hed get beat up, so he told prisoners he robbed someone..haha…thats it.

Is there a chance you will also come touring in Europe ?
Yea we’re going to Europe in april.

I saw some pics of you live and I saw some of you had a “X” on their hands - are you sraightedge or some sort ? What do you think of straightedge ?

Everyone in the band is sxe except for me..we all get along fine.. I respect their views and they respect mine..we all have different religious beliefs, lifestyles and etc but it doesnt interfere with what we love to do.

You come from Florida, and a lot of punk hardcore bands come from there - do you think there is a good music scene ? Are there any bands you are very friends with and that you like more?
Yea the scene here is awesome..its definitely grown through the years which is awesome..we grew up playing with bands like New Found Glory, Poison the Well, Further Seems Forever, As Friends Rust, Until the End, Remembering Never, Dashboard Confessional, Destro..etc..a bunch of great bands come from Fl.

What do you consider the influences of Glasseater musically? Do you have bands you like or take inspirations from ?
Definitely Dream Theater, we listen to a bunch of music…Dave and Ariel listen to a lot of indie, Jc grew up being a metal head and playing jazz, so did Julio, ariel listens to a lot of punk, so we all have influences coming from everywhere..

What’s in your cd player right now? Is there some albums you always pick up while on tour because you can’t live without listening to it ?
I love the new Glassjaw, the new Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Sonata Artica, Midtown, and that new Sum41 song is awesome.

Final comments ? Keep a lookout for us. You can check out www.glasseater.com

face to face was a punk band from Victorville, California that formed in 1991. The group was initially signed by Dr. Strange Records. They were then signed to Fat Wreck Chords. Their first big hit “Disconnected” was first played by KROQ and appeared in the movies Tank Girl and National Lampoon’s Senior Class Trip.

Interview by Jonathan Gill | admin@staff.TRUEPUNK.com | with Trevor Keith.

If you had to describe the new album Reactionay in one sentence, what would you say?
Classic face to face energy and emotion, currently Face to Face production.

When Face to Face first formed, what types of music were you listening to?
Bad religion, Descendents, Fugazi, Minor Thread, Subhumans, Black Falg, Green Day, Big drill car, D.I, Adolescents, The adicts, the Ramones, Jawbreaker, Fuel, Samiam.

What bands, and musicians have you had the most influencec over your music?
Same as above.

How does the Face to Face song writing process go?
Sometimes I will write a complete song and bring it to rehearsal and teach it to the band. Most of the time Scott or I will come up with a chord progression or melody and we flush it out at rehearsal, then I take it home, put a vocal melody to it, write lyrics and viola!

What inspires your song lyrics?
Everything I experience and everything that others close to me experience as I would interpret.

What are the ages of everyone in the band?
Old, Too old to mention. We’ve all been of legal drinking age for a while now.

What is your favorite Face to Face song?
Hearts of Hearts.

What is your favorite song of all time?
Don’t have just one.

What type of equipment do you use, brands and models (fans want to know)?
I have two 1980’s Gibson Les Paul Customs and I play them though a top hat kind gryale TB35.
Chad has two Les Paul Standards and he plays them though a 50 watt Hiwatt half stack and a 1960’s reissue Fender bassman 4×10
Scott has two Fender 60’s re-issue fender P-Basses and he plays them through an ampeg head and 8×10 ampeg cabinet
Pete plays Ludwig drums and Zidjian cymbals.

Do you know how many shows you have played over the years?
Too many to count, I’d guess more then 2,000.

Do you have any superstitions or rituals before shows?
No, just really annoying vocal warm up exercises.

What kind of shoes perform the best during shows?
Creepers

What are your favorite bands?
The smiths, radiohead

Favorite cereal?
Fruity pebbles

Finish this sentance, I wish I was a….. Fish

What is the most important thing in life?
Love

Any famous last words?
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Interview with Chad Pearson, co-owner of Militia Group. Militia Group is (at the time of this interview) a punk rock label. Read more for the full interview.

INTERVIEW WITH CHAD PEARSON (CO-OWNER OF THE MILITIA GROUP)

Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com.
Hi Chad! First of all, how are you doing in this 2004?

2004 is great! Lots going on, I’m getting married and business is good.

Let’s start speaking of The Militia Group: when did you start the label? I know some guy at TMB worked at Vagrant before? Can you sum up a story of your label?

I started The Militia Group back in 98 when I moved down to California. It was initially a booking agency ­ booking bands like Slick Shoes, Dogwood,
Craig¹s Brother, Undecided, Huntington¹s, and much much more. I always had a dream to start a label ­ but never had the money. Well I went to hang up the militia hat and just quit it all together. About that same time, I got a call from a guy named Rory Felton, a guy from Kansas City, who I used to book shows with and he asked me what I was doing with militia and if I ever wanted to start militia as a label. I said of course ­ I just have no money. He said he could get loans and we talked for about another 4 months and all of a sudden we did it. We signed 4 bands right off the bat, got a distribution deal with Revelation Records. It was all amazing. I have always respected revelation and to get the opportunity to work with them and have them support a label like us was awesome. With our first release ­ we sold way more then we expected. It was amazing and still is a dream come true. The guy from Vagrant that you talk about is my old friend James Cho who rules the new school and every company he goes to ­ the label goes up. So when Rory and I first started ­ we always joked that it would be amazing to have James cho a part of the label. Well vagrant fired him and he talked him into working for us and we eventually became partners in the whole militia realm. Overall ­ its still one amazing dream ­ just don’t pinch me to wake up.

A lot of your releases saw some young band involved, that you signed when they were no one, and then these bands went away to some other bigger labels. I am speaking of Rufio and Noise Ratchet. How did you react when they left your label? Are you still in good touch with them?

When we first started the label ­ we wanted to help our friends out to get to the next level ­ whatever that was. Now that has changed and we hope that we can build success with the bands. With rufio ­ Rory was in college and I was working at the gap and we had no office. They started getting attention and pretty much, to make a long story short ­ we let them go and they signed to Nitro Records. With Noise Ratchet ­ they were done with their contract and they went off to American Records. We are still friends with the band ­ but since we don¹t talk to them on a daily basis anymore ­the friendship isn’t the strongest as it has been when they were on the label. I wish them all the success and am so happy that I was part of them achieving their dreams.

The success of TMG is said to be linked to your first release, that was Rufio’s debut record. How many copies did it sell and did it help the label to go on producing other bands? In the end, did the success of Rufio help your label?

Of course! It rules so much to have been able to release that Rufio record. I’m so proud of it. It¹s the first thing we put out and the reaction to it
was and still is phenomenal. We still sell around 500-700 copies a week and have shipped over 70,000 in the US. That is AMAZING. We thought we would sell 2000 ever. And to have that of course helps going after other bands, because they see what we can do and what we are capable of.

I notice that now you sign only young bands that almost nobody knows: why ?What are some of the rules or principles with which you sign a band? What does a band have got to have to be chosen by TMG?

Well, we really like these bands. We love to help these people achieve their dreams and we are so into them ­ that we want other people to hear
them. It takes about 8 months for us to sign a band, cause we want to know what we are getting into when we do. We need to be friends with them, we need to see their work ethic, and we need to see if we can work together. For us to pay attention to a band is not a set of specific things ­ its just boils down to bands we love. I honestly LOVE every record we have put out. Now I see things changing a little bit though ­ people have seen our success in developing bands, and now that attracts better known bands. We just signed the band Brandtson ­ which has been one of my favourite bands EVER. That amazing ­ they could have gone to any label ­ but chose us. I’m so privileged to put out the best Brandtson record they have ever done. Wait till you hear this thing.

Do you receive a lot of demos by bands? How do you discover new bands? Do you look on the internet, listen to cd’s you get or have you got any other way to get on new bands?

We receive a ton of demos, about 2-10 a day. We listen to each one of them at least for 5 seconds. We discover new bands from a couple of ways ­either from demos we get in the mail, bands telling us some band that rules that played with them last night, friends, shows, word of mouth is the best advertising for unsigned bands.

Is there any famous band that you would like to work with?
I would love to put out the next POLICE record ­ but that will never happen. Maybe a Foo Fighters cd. That would rule too.

I know there is a kind of TMG sub label called SideCho: why and where are the differences between TMG and SideCho?

TMG and sidecho are different companies. Sidecho is James Cho label that we help him with. Its all family but separate labels.

Is there any famous band that you would like to work with? What is the record that you are most proud of?
>Dude, all of them ­ I know that’s a cop out but seriously ­ I was looking at all the records we have put out and just amazed that we have put out 20
records and we are still going strong ­ I could never imagine that
Is there any famous band that you would like to work with?
How many people work constantly at TMG ? and where are your offices?

There are 8 people who get paid from militia ­ we have another 7-8 loyal interns who rule the new school. Our offices are in Anaheim, CA.

You play an active role in the indie music scene of the USA: how do you judgeand see the underground/indie scene of your Country?

The indie scene will always thrive. People love discovering something before anyone else does.

Are there any record labels ( also of other music genres ) that you admire or that you took as inspiration when you first started TMG? And what aboutthe record labels of today: is there any one you are in good relationships with?

Hopeless records for sure. I love Louis. He has gone through so much personally and to see him not get him down and to follow his dreams is a
huge encouragement to me. When we first started the label, Louis called up and said, “welcome to the music industry” he said if we ever needed help, to call him, he helped us out so much. From giving us advice, to getting us our first CMJ showcase to paying for drinks on a cruise. Louis rules, he a man that will always have my respect.

What are your plans for 2004: what do we have to expect from TMG ? What new bands and record are your going to release?

Lots of good records coming out from us that I am looking forward to:Brandtson, The beautiful mistake, The lyndsay diaries, Reeve Oliver, Blueprint Car Crash, Denison Witmer, Copeland and more secrets I cant tell you yet.

Any final comments?No. Just tell Jon that the Mavericks suck ass. The Rockets rule. Note from Jon (jon@staff.truepunk.com): Here’s a little tidbit about Chad, he truthfully likes Matchbox 20. The Mavs don’t suck.

Anti Flag mix catchy choruses, with some pop-punk and street punk influences, and very committed lyrics about social issues, in the vein of Propagandhi, Satanic Surfers and Randy. The band just released their first record on Fat Wreck Chords, “Underground Network”, and we had to talk a bit with Chris#2, the bass player and a vocalist for Anti-Flag. He explained his thoughts on the band, their messages their involvement in politics and some other stuff.

By: Carlo Gironi

Carlo:How is it going with the new record just come out, I just heard it and I think it is a great record, not only the music but also the lyrics…
Chris #2: I think this new record is our best yet, I am pleased at the response it is getting.

Carlo:For your new album you changed label, from Go Kart to Fat Wreck…why did you change and did you find any differences between the 2 labels?
Chris #2:Fat Wreck gets our records into more shops so people can actually get their hands on it.and
that’s al we wanted, was some way for people to hear what we are doing.

Carlo:Do you like the bands that are on Fat ( of course I bet you like Good Riddance and Propagandhi…any others) ?
Chris #2: Big In Japan, Teen Idols (Honest Dons), Less Than Jake and a ton of others Fat has a great line up.

Carlo:You also run a label called AF…with such bands like The Unseen…how is it going with the label? What will be your next releases?
Chris #2: There is a ton of new releases coming from A-F :The Methadones (feat. Members of Screeching Weasel) Pipe Down, and some others.

Carlo:You sing a lot about politics, the governement and that things and I guess you believe in what you do…do you think the kids read your lyrics or just have a teenage rebellion?
Chris #2: I totally feel that people understand what we are about and trying to accomplish, so many kids tell me how this music has changed their lives and tings of that sort.to me it really makes a difference.

Carlo:You went touring with such bands as A New Found Glory…what do you think of that kind of happy pop-punk, which is pretty different from what you do?
Chris #2: I think as long as the music is passionate it’s a good thing, it has to be real and from the
heart.

Carlo:Sometimes ago there was around a voice that said not to smoke at AntiFlag shows becasue the singer was sick…what happened exactly?
Chris #2:Justin is allergic to smoke so we try to do our shows non smoking so he can breathe.

Carlo:Someone said you sound allot like Uk Subs, Blitz or Business…do you think it is true? So, which are your main influences?
Chris #2: I love the Uk Subs so to be compared to them is nice. I like all music.

Carlo: The booklet of your CD, I think it’s really well-done…I saw also an Anti WTO sign….what’s your position towards WTO, the Globalitation and that stuff?
Chris #2: I think it’s a total farse, and needs to have something done about it

Zinn, Matthew Rothschild and some Fact Sheet about Puerto Rico, I guess to stress theimportance of your message…do you believe it is important to keep politics and music so close?
Chris #2: With us it is, I understand its not the position for all bands.

Carlo:I haven’t hear all of your albums, just some old songs like “Tearing Everyone Down”…did your sound changed from your first record to “Underground Network” ?
Chris #2: I think the band matured but in a good way.

Carlo:You come from Pittsburgh…are there a lot of punk bands over there or just afew?
Chris #2: Pittsburgh is very punk.

Carlo: I read the lyric of “Spaz’s House Deconstruction Party”…what’s that song aboput exactly?
Chris #2: A house destruction party our friend Spaz had.

Carlo:On the cover of “Die For The Government” you were in three…are you in four now? why did you take a new memebr?
Chris #2: Andy quit, so we got chris head as a bass player I came in and Chris moved to 2nd guitar.

Carlo:Always on that cover, there is a flag of ths USA on the wall, and it is attached on the contrary…are you Anti the American flag only or Anti the flag in general ?
Chris #2: All flags we need to unite as one people with one struggle.

Carlo:What do you consider “flags” nowadays ?
Chris #2: Pieces of fabric.

Carlo:Did you go to cast your vote for the president election?
Chris #2: Yes I voted Nader.

Carlo:Political question: the court-martial didn’t condemn the general that was commanding the submarine that killed about 5 japanese students on a boat some months ago, becasue he was american obviously…how do you see this?
Chris #2: As a total farse, how else could it be seen?

Carlo:Question from your fan: “what are your real names? we all know justin sane and pat thetic are not your real names for example…I mean, come on, just insane…pathetic :)”?
Chris #2: Those are real.

Carlo: “Seattle was a Riot”…some newspapers and magazines said there were only anarchist kids that wanted just to break some shop-windows , but do you think it’s true?
Chris #2: No, that’s just the medias way of not telling the truth about hwat really went down.

Carlo: Your album is called “Underground Network”…what do you think of common ways of spreading news, like the medias, newspapers, etc…do they really say only what they should say or what the “conservative capitalists” tell them to say?
Chris #2: Exactly.

Carlo: Last question: are you going touring?
Chris #2: Yes.

Carlo: Where ?
Chris #2: We haven’t fully decide yet.look for us in the fall.

Carlo:Thanks so much , hope to see you soon ! Final comments?

Chris #2: Feel free to write us here : A-F , p.o. box 71266, Pittsburgh PA 15213, and visit our website www.anti-flag.com . Thanks for the interview!

I talked with 2 guys of the band, Chris (drummer) - he likes barbecue sauce - and with Spencer, the bass player. These guys are really nice, and they gave me more reasons to like Junction18.

Carlo - Can you give us a brief presentation of what Junction18 is? How did you meet, how old are you, how did you start?
Junction18 - I’d say that Junction 18 is a group of five outstanding young men that love to make music. We met in school growing up and became friends and started the band after we realized we were creative people who loved music.
My name is Chris and I am 19, Jeff is also 19. Scott, Spencer, and Andy are all 20 years young. I guess we started out by playing NOFX and Jawbreaker covers at junior high talent shows. We started the band our sophomore year of high school with Ryan our old guitarist. We just kept writing songs and playing shows and that got us to today.

Carlo - How is the scene of the place you come from?
Junction18 - The scene here is ok, but it could be a lot better. There is never room for new bands. It’s always the same bands playing together and that sort of forms little cliques. People have always asked us to play, and people come out to our shows, so we have been supported. I think it would just be nice to see more bands get fair shots.

Carlo - How did you join the Fearless Records team?
Junction18 - Chad, the guitarist from New Found Glory, recommended us to Fearless when they asked him if he knew of any good, unsigned bands. We sent them our songs and they liked them enough to want to put out our record.

Carlo - Someone compared you to A New Found Glory. Do you like them?
Junction18 - Yes, we love those guys. We love their music and them as people. You could never meet guys as nice and down to earth as them. They have helped us out so much and I’m sure that we’re not the only ones that they’ve helped out.

Carlo - Which bands influenced you most?
Junction18 - Hmmmmmm, that’s sort of tough. Each member of the band contributes to song writing, and we all kind of have distinct tastes. I think the bands we’d have in common though would be Lifetime, All/ Descendents, and Weezer.

Carlo - Are you on tour right now?
Junction18 - No, as much as we wish we were, we are not on tour at the moment. We should be hitting the road in two to three months though.

Carlo - How would you describe one of your shows?
Junction18 - Well, since the record came out, we haven’t played out a lot. I’d hope one of our shows would just be a fun time. You know, with people singing with us and stuff.

Carlo - Is “This Vicious Cycle” your first full-length CD?
Junction18 - Yes, this is our very first full-length cd, there are some crummy demos in circulation still though, if you see one burn it.

Carlo - I think your album is recorded very well. How long did it take to write it all and to record, I mean, how long have you been working on it?
Junction18 - That album took us a good amount of time to do, we all took school off and really focused on the writing, all together those songs took about 4 months to write. The recording was almost the same too, we recorded it at a studio in MA then fearless picked us up and we had it re-mixed by the fantastic Mr.Cameron Webb, that was done out in California on the other side of the country.

Carlo - Your lyrics are mostly about love, emotions, and life stories; there are some bands that instead sing only about politics; what do you think of politics? Would you sing about it? What do you think of what happened in the USA with this election thing…
Junction18 - Well, we’re not really a band that would choose to sing about politics, don’t get us wrong, we are socially conscious, we choose to put more personal experiences in our music and lyrics though. As for the election thing, we weren’t happy with either of the candidates in the first place and now this whole re-count thing is just kind of embarrassing.

Carlo - Sorry if I ask you this, but what does the “vicious cycle” represent? I have a small idea but I dunno really…
Junction18 - Last year for everyone in the band was really stressful and at times it just seemed like we had no luck at all, bad things just kept on happening to all of us, and we kind of based the vicious cycle thing on the fact that we all had such a long streak of getting fucked over for reasons we didn’t know. Then we thought a bike would look cool on the cover.

Carlo - Are you gonna take some participation on some compilations? If so, which ones?
Junction18 - We’re really not sure of what comps we’ll be on, but if someone asks us we’ll probably do it.

Carlo - Inevitable question ( ..sorry ): I saw you can download your whole new record from Napster, cuz there are about all the 11 songs? What do you think of that?
Are you angry, happy, proud, or just don’t care?
Junction18 - Honestly, I really don’t care that people are getting our songs off Napster, I’m excited. I know that most of those people already have our CD and probably are using Napster to get people interested in us. Napster has been a huge help for me if I want to hear a band that I have never heard before, and if I like the songs I get I will always buy the CD, it’s all good

Carlo - Ok guys, I really thank you for having found the time for this interview! Good luck and kick ass!!!
Junction18 - Thanks for the interview, rock on!!!

Thanks to Chris and Spencer, the whole band Junction18, and Fearless Records for letting me put up this.