Buried Alive on 11-21-2000 by propheci

First off, tell us who you are.
My name is Scott, and I'm the vocalist for Buried Alive. I hate to say sing cuz I sure don't do that.

You guys are going to start recording this December?
January actually.

Do you know who's going to produce it?
Yeah, Matt Henderson from Madball.

And where are you gonna record the album at?
The Outpost in the Boston area. I think it's outside of Boston.

Do you know how many songs you're gonna have on the new CD?
Probably 12 or 13.

Do you think the band has changed since the past record?
Over time, little things but for the most part, not really.

What bands have you been listening to?
I really like Death Threat, a band from Connecticut. I like Reach the Sky a lot. Scarhead. I love Merauder, that's one of my favorite bands. I listen to a lot of hip-pop. And that's about it.

What about the other people in the band?
For the most part, heavy music. It's hard to say. Everyone listens to so much different stuff. In our van, you'll hear The Police all the time, Tom Petty, Black Sabbath. Older stuff like that, Led Zeppelin stuff. It's just a wide range. A lot of times when you're out on tour, you don't want to listen to metal cuz you're hearing it every night.

You mentioned Reach the Sky. You guys did a split with them this year. What was that like?
Well, those are just really good friend of ours. Both bands had put out albums, and we wanted to get something out in between albums and it was just a perfect time. And we wanted to do it on a smaller label, and we were both good friends with Dave Mandel, who does Indecision Records. So, we got together and it came out. And I think it's out of press now. It was just limited, I think.

You guys got a new drummer...?
Yeah, he played on the split. After the album came out, our drummer Jesse quit. The new drummer's name is Kevin.

Is his drumming style different from Jesse?
It's definitely different. I don't know; I don't want to discredit Jesse cuz he's a good drummer. But his fast parts were really sloppy and choppy. Kevin is just a lot more chrisp and on, I'd say.

Did you guys know Kevin before? Was he in another band?
Actually, I knew him a long time ago. Some of our old old bands had played together in the late 80s. And then he moved on to Virginia. We got in touch with him through a friend that does a recording studio in Buffalo. We talked. He came out to Buffalo to try it out. Was in the band and moved up to Buffalo with his girlfriend.

On this new record, what do you hope to achieve?
First off, we want to get a better recording. We're not completely satisfied with the last one. The song structure is still real heavy, hardcore; but we wanted to take it to the next level. Have the song be heavier and more "in-your-face" and little more dynamic. Some more ups and downs. If you notice on the first record, it's all straight forward. Fast, slow, fast, fast. No ups and downs. There's parts where we lay back a little bit so there's ups and downs; some more hooks.

So does that mean you're gonna sing?
*laughs* No, definitely not.

When you guys write songs, is it a group process or individualized?
Usually the guitarist and the bassist get the riffs together, work on it with the drummer. They'll mess around with the songs for a couple of weeks until they're happy. We're record it on a boombox, and I'll try to fit lyrics to it, change some parts, arranging it.

Do you have all the new songs done right now?
We have 11 that we've record for pre-production. We've got 2 months to write 2 more songs.

When you write songs, what's your motivation?
I guess I kind of wait something to happen. I don't really usually just sit down and write lyrics. If you want something to come out with feeling, I have to wait for an event to happen or something to spark my interest. If you just try to force something out, it'll just be generic. So I wait for something, some idea, and that's when I'll start writing.

Do you guys have a date for when it'll come out?
Probably late May.

What about a name?
Untitled, as of yet.

What do you think hardcore means to you personally?
I've been involved in this for a while. The most important thing to me now at this point is mostly the good friends I've made, being able to travel with people. It's really the one type of music that's really street level. No bullshit involved that I've seen. I think that's the most important thing. I've made great friends with the bands we've played with. When I was first getting involved, it introduced me a lot of new ideas like I'm vegan because of hardcore. It just really opens your mind to be accepting of people and kind of see the world for what it really is instead of what you're being fed your whole life.

Do you think there should be anything changed in the current hardcore scene?
Aw, so many things. I think there's way too much competition. Way too much stress on who's best. Fucking fashion show. Bullshit violence. Hardcore kids beating hardcore kids. That's so pointless. Stuff like that.

If you could pick bands from the past or right now to play in a show. Who would you pick?
Alone In A Crowd, Merauder, Chain of Strength. That's a good show right there.

My last question would be if you weren't into hardcore, what do you think you'll be doing?
Just working a job to get by. I'm not too worried about money. Just hanging out with my friends. I'll be probably into some other type of music since I really like music a lot.