Bane New song “The Bold and the Beautiful

Bane has a new song up for streaming on their myspace as well as the lyrics to the new song.

Bane is just one of the bands who are attending the 10 for 10 tour that is going on now!

Worcester, MA’s Bane have posted a new song on their MySpace. As of yet it is uncertain where the track will be released. Bane are currently participating on the 10 For $10 tour along with Madball, Death Before Dishonor and more. The band released The Note on Equal Vision Records in 2005.

You can check out “The Bold And The Beautiful” along with the lyrics to the song here.

The 10 for $10 Tour

That time of year is upon us when the weather starts getting hot, school is a fading memory, and tour buses begin fueling up as rock stars stumble aboard awaiting chanting multitudes in stadiums, amphitheatres, and fields around the country. Yes, the summer festival season has begun, and with that comes astronomical ticket prices amplified by unreasonable service charges, exorbitant parking fees, $12 beers, and merch booths who have tripled their prices since the winter tours. In order to have a good time this summer, many have to pick and chose which tour to attend and then take out a loan to make it there. On top of all this classical corporate swindling, the nation is still in a recession, many people have lost their jobs this past year and are scraping by with little to nothing, leaving their entertainment funds nonexistent.

by Jason Walsh

However, there is another option. Members within the hardcore community have come together and created a summer alternative that echoes back to the days of the infamous “Sunday Matinees.” The 10 for $10 Tour will feature ten incredible hardcore acts for a mere ten bucks allowing fans to see hours upon hours of great music without breaking the bank.

“This tour will get a lot of attention,” said Freddy Cricien of Madball. “Look at the bands involved. Some are more established than others but regardless, you have some of the best ‘staple’ and ‘up-and comers’ in the game. If you’re into hardcore or just heavy music in general, you should not miss this show. It’ll be a great one top to bottom.”

Madball will be one of the shared headliners on this year’s 10 for $10 Tour which kicks off on July 9, hitting 32 venues across North America. The lineup will be slightly shifting, with bands popping on and off, but the roster is impressive:
MADBALL
POISON THE WELL
BANE
TERROR
DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR
VISION OF DISORDER
TRAPPED UNDER ICE
THE GHOST INSIDE
Vision
THE MONGOLOIDS
CRIME IN STEREO
WAR OF AGES
THIS IS HELL.

“I’m very excited to be a part of this for numerous reasons,” Cricien said. “The underground music scene, hardcore in particular needs a tour like this right now. It’s great for the bands involved of course and it’s especially cool for people coming out to support it. Times are tough right now financially. You can’t really beat getting to see this caliber of bands for the price.”

Boston’s Death Before Dishonor just released their latest offering, “Better Ways To Die,” which shows their continued growth and evolution as musicians. Vocalist Bryan Harris agreed that participating in this event was great for the bands and fans alike.

“It’s the coolest thing I ever heard,” Harris said. “I think when you have a ticket price like ten dollars, it makes it a lot more attractive to people, whether they’re into hardcore or not, to go see an event for ten bucks. Exposure alone is great, the bands we get to tour with is going to be fun, and it does hit just about every market. It’s just great for the hardcore and metal core community.”

One of the older bands on the lineup this year is Poison the Well. The guys from South Florida are also co-headlining and one of the few that will be hitting every venue along the way. Guitarist Ryan Primack believes it’s a great opportunity for exposing fans to music they might not otherwise see.

“For any band as far as I see it, playing shows and just getting out there and just playing music you love, that’s got to be the best thing ever,” Primack said. “I also think that for the kids coming to shows, this is great. You may like one or two of the bands but you get to see ten bands. It’s going to be great because it’s a lot of honest music in one day.”

Terror from Los Angeles were on board from the beginning. Frontman Scott Vogel was in talks with organizer Tim Borror from inception and was ready to hit the road from the start.

“The whole thing is amazing,” Vogel said. “First of all, I get to tour again with my favorite band ever, Madball. I know music is something people will always spend their money on cause there are lots of people out there that need music just like I do in this fucked up world or we’re lost. But with this low door price and cool lineup, it gives all the bands and people that come out to support the tour and the organizers a sense of purpose, and at the end of the day, we all know something real and special is going on.”

Baltimore’s Trapped Under Ice heard about the tour from Vogel and jumped at the chance to play. Vocalist Justice Tripp agreed this was a positive event which would expose fans in different cities to a variety of styles within the hardcore realm.

“On a scale of 1-10, this is awesome,” Tripp said. “This is a great way to get the music out and get some new fresh eyes and ears to see bands they might not have seen before. It’s definitely true that this tour is a good opportunity to open the eyes of new people to the hardcore scene and to a lot of the smaller bands that people might not necessarily have heard of.”

Bane from Massachusetts were just getting off a plane from Europe when they got the call about the tour. When asked if they were interested and available, the band said yes to both. Drummer Bob Mahoney believes this is the sort of coming together that shows the true colors of the hardcore world.

“It’s always great to bring that sense of community and unity,” Mahoney said. “If everyone respects one another, this will be very memorable. This is my community. From my days in early high school to now, when shit sucked, I had a hardcore show to go to. Now, I get the best of both. Again, I feel with bringing this unity vibe out, it reminds me of why I am still involved in this.”

Long Island’s Vision of Disorder agreed that their involvement was a positive direction for the hardcore scene. Frontman Tim Williams grew up in the New York Hardcore community and has seen how the corporate intervention has tainted the industry.

“Music has become such a business now,” Williams said. “It’s almost depressing. I’m glad we can get involved with a bill that’s for the underground. It’s a rare thing these days and how cool is it for some of the hardcore bands as far as exposure. It’s always good to see something like this. I think it’s just a fun thing that was put together by some old schoolers that may miss shows like this.”

The Ghost Inside from Los Angeles are one of the few West Coast contingents onboard. They have done several recent tours with Terror and when they got word from Vogel about participating, they were down for the cause.

“It’s so cool,” said singer Jonathan Vigil. “And with the way tours are being stacked up nowadays, this could easily be a $20 plus show. It’s really down to earth and rad of all the bands playing because I’m sure everybody took a lot less money than they’re used to just to be a part of the tour and play for all the kids that can’t afford to pay a lot of money for their favorite bands.”

New Jersey’s Vision will be playing a few dates throughout the summer run. Guitarist Peter Tabbot said the guys from the Garden State were “thrilled” for the opportunity to participate in such a positive event.

“It’s a win-win-win for both the bands involved and the kids who come out to the shows,” Tabbot said. “Kids may come for one of the headliners and hopefully be surprised by some of the opening bands and maybe their curiosity will be piqued enough to go pick up an album. Since some of the venues are rather large, it’s a fantastic chance for unparalleled exposure.”

Fellow NJHC locals, The Mongoloids, are one of the younger bands on the bill. Vocalist Greg Falchetto felt that this was a great way for the bands to give back to the kids who support them.

“It’s great for the hardcore scene and hopefully promoters will demand more of these reasonably priced tours,” Falchetto said. “It really shows what hardcore is about. Brotherhood, family, and helping each other. Hopefully people will see this model works and 10 for $10 will be the jump off point for more things like this to happen.

www.myspace.com/10for10tour

Bane show review spring 2008

Bane show review, Knitting Factory, Spring 2008 by Roya Butler.

Ah, Bane in New York City’s Knitting Factory: non-stop straight-edge hardcore at its finest. Boston’s Bane plugged their gear in, and from the first force of front man Aaron Bedard’s strong vocals and heavy and energetic 3-chord and punch-packed drum backing from the band, fans were singing along in unison while moshers threw themselves across the floor. Bane made it clear they were excited to play New York City.

Bane’s merchandise booth was jam packed with fans waiving their money and pointing to shirts. Personally, I fell in love with their black shirt with gold glittered ‘BANE.’ Inevitably, Bedard gifted me with a shirt and a hoodie. I can’t express enough how much this band RULES in every way!

As for their performance, spectacular is an understatement. When Bane came on stage, the crowd did not let up. Non-stop chaos ensured, as everyone cleared the merchandise area and packed in around the stage—the pit turned into a whirlwind of bodies kicking around, while crowd surfers toiled to get on stage with the Band.  Bedard was moving like he had caught fire, despite the kids jumping on stage and grabbing the microphone to scream along with him. If there was a lack of snarling from the band, judging from the smiles on the faces, it was because they’re having too much fun to break their stride.

An interview with Bedard proved him to be engaging, witty, charismatic, and incredibly enigmatic. He spoke much of their travels through Europe and Japan, and articulated his love for other cultures as well as for mother America; he determined, though, that nothing beats American Hardcore. He further expressed his strive for forever one-uping each album they create. The Note, out on Equal Vision, 2006, is explosively fierce and should not be missed. Bedard expressed that with the arrival of the drummer’s new baby, the band was only doing a month long tour, which included Boston, New York, California, and Japan.

Being at the Knitting Factory made me realize how much I missed hardcore shows tremendously, and the best compliment I can give to this tour is that, despite the fact that they only played a few cities, they played my favorite one, New York. The energy and love from the fans and band reminded me why these concerts are still worth paying for.

Bane

Roya Butler sat down with Aaron Bedard upstairs at The Knitting Factory in New York City to get personal about their most recent album, “The Note,” and experiences on the road.

Tell us about your newest release.
Well the album actually came out a couple of years ago. It’s called “The Note.” We worked with the same producer that we’ve worked with through all of our recordings and we’re just really-really happy with it. It came out on Equal Vision Records. We toured on it pretty extensively in 2005 and 2006, and now it’s time to start thinking about doing a new one.

Tell us about the fakie tour you’re doin right now.
Yeah it’s just so small that it’s hard to call it a tour. But we’re doing five shows around New England and a couple here in New York starting tonight at the knitting factory. We’ll go to Albany. We’ll play our hometown of Worcester, MA on Saturday and on Sunday we’ll play some new place called Avril. And all of our shows are with bands that we’re really good friends with, so we’re just excited to be around all of our buddies this weekend. Next weekend, we’ll fly to California and do eight shows up the west coast where we haven’t been in over a year. So we’re really excited to get back out there, because obviously the scenes are really hoppin’ up there in Cali and we have a lot of fans. The shows are always good. Then after that we go to Japan.

Tell us about the festivals you’re playing in Japan.
We were invited to play a couple of festivals – one in Osaka and one in Tokyo. So they are kind of paying for us to fly from California to Japan and back. We’re only going to do two shows, so we’re not going to be there for very long. Usually when we go to Japan we do two weeks of shows, but it’s just going to be real short – in and out, bing-bam.

Why haven’t you done a lot of touring this year?
Our Drummer just had a baby this year, so it’s been harder for him to get away. That’s pretty much why we haven’t been doing a lot of touring; this is the first time that he’s been out on the road with us since the kid came, so this is really exciting for him. But he was like, “It’s gotta be two weeks. We gotta do the whole thing in two weeks.” So, two weeks between Cali and Japan and then he’ll be home. I’m actually going to stay in Japan with a friend for four or five extra days and just chill…buy sneakers and stuff.

Yea, I heard they have a lot of cool sneaker shops out there.
Aaron Bedard: They do. They have a lot of cool sneaker shops, and a lot of stuff you can’t find here. They have a lot more exclusive stuff that you won’t find here. There are a lot of trendy little boutiques and a lot of weird underground sneaker shops that just have really old shit. They’re really into hipster U.S. style, in Japan. They have really nice jeans. They have really nice sneakers. They’re just on the next level when it comes to fashion.

Do they implement hip-hop in their fashion, as we do in the US?
Yeah, some of it’s real hip-hop, for sure. They’re just real obsessed with anything that’s American and street.

I’m assuming you got your name from Batman comix.
Aaron Bedard: Yeah, that’s one of the things that inspired the name, for sure, was the dude that broke Batman’s back. I really like comic books. So yeah, that’s how the name came up. The line up now’s different than the line-up that we had in the beginning. But there are four of us that have been in the whole time, and drummers have come and gone as we’ve gone along. But once he left Converge, things just got real serious for us then, and we’ve done a lot of records since then and have done a lot of touring. We’ve been really lucky to just go all over the place and just play music that we really love. We’re really lucky.

What do you think is the difference between the Hardcore scene and the Metal scene?
Aaron Bedard: I guess the main difference that I can see is that Hardcore always seems to be – I don’t know the metal scene very well so I can’t speak for them – the difference for me is that Hardcore always seems to be about just more realistic view points. The songs are of a more personal nature and try to confront issues a little more. Metal just seems to expand. You can sing about anything. You can sing about dragons and warriors, or you can sing about fast cars and fucking chicks. It’s just way more grandiose. And also to play Metal you have to somewhat talented, and to play Hardcore you don’t have to be really that talented of a musician. You just have to learn three chords on a guitar and beat the fuck out of your drums and be a punk band. It’s kind of one the things I’ve always really loved about Hardcore. It’s really created just by kids who are angry and confused and displaced and just want to scream about it. Whereas Metal, is a little more epic with guitar leads and fancy drum solos.

What do you see as the differences between the Hardcore scene in America vs. in Europe and also Japan?
Aaron Bedard: Well in Japan the kids are just so sweet, and they just love the image and music so much. There’s no attitude. They’re just giddy that you’re there. They’re so fucking happy that American dudes came to play there this music that they love. So that’s just the most positive, heart-warming vibe imaginable. In Europe it’s just so wide, and there are just so many types of scenes. The one that stands out the most is Germany, and German kids are just really blunt and confrontational. If something on your t-shirt offends them or they’re not happy with the style that you band is going in they will just straight up tell you in this very point blank way. Like, “I think that your stuff sucks.” Or, “What is wrong with your government?” And they’re just a little more, I guess confrontational would be the word, or they’re just more up front and forward about things.

How does that compare to the attitude of your fans in Japan?
Aaron Bedard: A Japanese kid would never in a million years want to say anything to make you feel uncomfortable or say anything to make you feel anything but just happy that you’re there.

What do you think makes up the differences in attitudes?
Aaron Bedard: German kids are just maybe a little bit more spoiled; they just have more bands coming through, and if they think that you’re full of shit, they’ll just tell you. It’s something to respect on some level, but is just a little awkward.

What’s it like in the UK?
Aaron Bedard: I would say in the U.K. its becoming way more Americanized. There’s a lot of tough-guy bullshit, and a lot of gangs starting out, and this crew mentality that I think is really detrimental to the Hardcore scene. It seems to be taking over more and more in the United Kingdom. You hear about a lot of fights at shows, and a bunch of stupid bullshit like that. They’re a little bit behind the times, it seems.

So I guess America sets the benchmark for the Hardcore scene across the globe?
Aaron Bedard: We kind of set the standard here in America for dancing and stage-diving, and all the best bands tend to come from here. But they’re catching up. They’ve got some good bands out there. There’s a band called Rise and Fall from Holland who are really-really fucking good. There’s a band from Japan called the FC5 who are really great, and who are really good friends with us. So there’s definitely some good international stuff going on.

Interview by Roya Butler.