Pete (Most Precious Blood & Ex NRSV/Stepaside) on 07-23-2000 by RavenCrucifix

This is an interview I conducted online with Pete LaRussa of Most Precious Blood (Ex NRSV/Stepaside)

RavenCrucifix: ok, well first off for the uninitiated, who are you and what do you do in the band?+

Pete: Hello All... I'm Pete (the artist formerly known as Pete The Meat while in No Redeeming Social Value) and I play drums.

RavenCrucifix: ok....now how exactly did you all come together? I know most of the band knew each other from Indecision....

Pete: It was strange. I was sitting at my desk here at work about 6 weeks ago and I get an instant message from Tom and he says "Hey Pete, wanna join Indecision part 2?" I think I may've done a double take when I read that and replied with something like "DUH!!! what do you think??" Needless to say it was not a hard decision to make.. Indecision had just broken up and Justin had talked to Tom about getting back together to form a new band. Tom and I had already been jamming with some people so Tom suggested me to play drums.

RavenCrucifix: that's pretty cool. now how is the band coming along, as far as songwriting and stuff?

Pete: 5 songs in 5 weeks together... I'd say it's going along very well.. don't you think :-D We'll hopefully have a 6th song this week. Justin is a songwriting machine. This music really is his life. We'll be demoing up everything we have in 2 weeks for label consideration.

RavenCrucifix: Well, that sort of answers the label question....Can you say who you're talking to about putting the stuff out? Is this going to be the release that revives SFT (lol)

Pete: I'd have to say no on the SFT thing. SFT is a whole other issue that I think we're all asking about. As far as What's goin on with SFT? Is SFT dead? Who knows? That's something Kevin Gill might be able to answer better than me. As far as who we're talking to, it's another question that I can't answer. All i know is that we're recording our demo and then I leave it up to Justin to send the tapes out to whoever may be interested and then wait for offers.

RavenCrucifix: That's cool. I know the last record Indecision worked with, MIA is shutting down so that rules that out.

Pete: Yeah I'd say MIA is not an option.

RavenCrucifix: Now when do you expect to start doing shows? God knows we need some real hardcore type bands back out there.

Pete: That was something I was just asking Justin about a few hours ago because I can't wait to get back on a stage and play shows. I took a year and a half off from the Hardcore Scene to get my life together (NO, NRSV DIDN'T MAKE ME A DRUNK OR A DRUG ADDICT, I HAD TO GET A REAL JOB AND AN APARTMENT) and get married. I played some shows during that time as a fill in drummer for INHUMAN and I also toyed around with Electronic-Rock with my friends band Secret Army but that was it. So I'm looking forward to playing hardcore shows again and hopefully everyone who followed Indecision will come down and check us out.

Pete: I'm sure the Indecision kids will be right back out there. Now that brings me to another question....Obviously the internet has a large effect on any kind of music now...How do you feel about it?

Pete: I think MP3 sharing is the best thing for this scene right now to tell you the truth. Idiots Like METALLICA will try and make you believe it's SO WRONG for the music business when meanwhile Lars and Co. have made so much money they probably Swim in it daily. I see it like this. Your average hardcore fan (or Music fan in general) is probably a teenager who has a low paying minimum wage job and probably can't always go out and buy a cd for 14.99 or whatever. So if some kid wants to go onto Napster and look for Most Precious Blood songs to listen to I say why not. If you're like me you'll give some songs a listen and if you like it, you'll buy it. The Recording industry is ripping their buying public off big time, it's the worst I've ever seen. As far as the Internet in general, I just hate people who talk shit on message boards and make up rumors and crap. I think Sick Of it All had to remove their message board because some moron decided to post "L ou Koller has Aids" Or some garbage like that. You know these people wouldn't say this shit if they were face to face with anyone they talk shit about.

RavenCrucifix: Yeah...The scene probably has more bullshit artists than any other. It's a shame. Now that brings me to another question....Do you even consider hardcore existing anymore? I mean in my mind the hardcore bands now really have nothing in common with Negative Approach or Reagan Youth

Pete: Well I think we all know the hardcore scene has died down suffiectly since a few years ago when even MTV was paying attention to it (ie. Sick of it all on WEEK IN ROCK... remember that one?). I think that most of the bands that are coming out now are mostly influenced by KORN or Crap Bizkit and any other fake bands like that that people "think" are hardcore bands when they're not. But there's still alot of kids out there that are influenced by the real hardcore bands of the 80s and 90s. But if you go to clubs today all you hear are alot of bands that are trying to be the next Korn or Hatebreed. Not that there's anything wrong with Hatebreed, mind you... They're one of my favorite bands :-)

RavenCrucifix: That's definitely sad but true (sorry to unintentionally quote the greed machine) Now how do you feel about the other aspects of the scene...The whole toughguy thing that seems really prevalent here in NY

Pete: Another favorite subject. This issue never seems to go away. There's no other way to talk about it then what's been said by so many people that are Much more important and Much more known than I am. But the fact is that if you're gonna come to a show solely to try and pick a fight with someone then you don't belong at any hardcore shows. All you're doing is killing it for bands and clubs that are trying to do shows. Why do you think so many clubs have once again shut the doors down on hardcore bands? It's because of tough guys who just don't understand and maybe will NEVER understand that it's not about punkin out some innocent kid who's trying to have a good time and let out some aggression the right way.

RavenCrucifix: It's really like that Bad Religion song...How we only die from our own arrogance. If you pay attention you can easily draw paralells to the HC scene and that song. Anyways, up for a few NRSV war stories?

Pete: HA!! War Stories!!! Which one? :-)

RavenCrucifix: Well....Any particularly amusing ones you can think of...If nothing else I'm sure NRSV is good for stories

Pete: Truthfully being in NRSV was great for me. It didn't work out for all of us in the end when I left and I hate How I left the band but at that time in my life i think I made the right decision to leave but it was bad because I left them a month before 3 big shows with Creep Division. Since then all has been squashed with me and NRSV. The obvious story is what happened to Mike. Is that where we're going here?

RavenCrucifix: lol....The infamous European van story for those who haven't heard it...

Pete: The NRSV "Hold my beer while I kiss your girlfriend" tour of Europe 1997 (part 1) had started in march 97. I for one was excited to go on the tour because it was my first. It was the bands first european tour as well. About a week and a half into the tour we all noticed that Mike was not as excited and into the whole thing like we were. Needless to say nights of smoking hash and weed didn't help his anxieties but one day it just got really bad. If you know the song "BAND IN ITALY" this is where it all went from bad to worse as far as Mike and NRSV was concerned. We pulled up to the border of Italy and showed our passports to the officers. All of a sudden we were asked to "Step out of the vehicle". I'm thinking to myself "Uh Oh, this can't be good". Now 6 skinheads step out of the van and go into some small booth to sign some kind of papers or whatever. Apparently they didn't like something about us ( i say it was racism against Mike which is just disgusting on their part) and they told us we were not being let into the country and to try and come back "another day". Problem is we had a show that day but we couldn't tell them that. Because the last thing they want to hear is that we're coming into their country to make money, plus we didn't want to have our van searched so we just took our passports and left. it dosen't end there. So then we had to go back into Switzerland where we played the night before to find someplace to stay. We found someplace to eat first and treated ourselves to some italian food. We were literally 15 minutes away from the border I think so we were able to find an italian restaurant in Switzerland. M ike was buggin out at this point and wouldn't even eat with us. Then I think he made a phone call which will come into play in the story later on. We ate and we left. Then we found some cool spot to take some band photos. If you look at the photos now Mike dosen't even smile in any of the pictures. We found a beautiful hotel nearby and a few of us decided to spend some of our hard earned money on a few rooms. Mike and Dean decided to sleep in the van. During the course of the night Mike told Dean he was going to come up to one of our rooms and use our shower. He took his bag and left. Next morning we all wake up and I get a knock on my door. it was Dean and Scott and they were like "Have you guys seen Mike?". I said "No, wasn't he with you Dean" and dean says "No he said he was coming up to you to use your shower". I was like "No he never came up here". We all look at each other and were just like "HOLY SHIT" and ran down to the van to find Kents plane ticket lying on the seat of the van. Mike had been holding the ticket for kent. And Mikes bag was gone so we were just like "MIKE IS GONE, HE WENT HOME!". Apparently the phone call in the restaurant the night before was to get a plane ticket back to New york. Crazy.... Kevin Gill filled in for the rest of the tour and di a great Job. That was as crazy as it got for me as a member of NRSV and it was only my 3rd month in the band!!

RavenCrucifix: Wow....There have been so many second and third hand accounts of that story so it's good to hear the truth. I know upon hearing it when it happened I assumed it was just NRSV joking around

Pete: Alot of people thought that but that's the genuine story of what happened to Mike. Needless to say I contacted Mike shortly after that happened to make sure he was ok. We're still good friends and hang out once in a while. We all went to his wedding later that year.

RavenCrucifix: Yes....He now has become a recluse who plays wrestling games from what I can gather lol

Pete: yeah, Mike likes to come to my apartment and kick my ass in Virtual Pro Wrestling 2. He's a pro :-)

RavenCrucifix: Word. I felt his wrath at the legendary Nightmare Before Christmas in 98.

Pete: Yep I remember. I was the DJ for the night. Classic!

RavenCrucifix: Yeah....That's the great thing about going to a show and playing videogames on a big screen....Everyone can watch you get your ass kicked by the Giant three times in a row.

Pete: HAHA!! yeah... you gotta love that. I remember looking at you guys playing and the look on your face was just like "WHY DID I CHALLENGE THIS GUY" and mike just had that grin on his face like "GOTCHA"

RavenCrucifix: Hey that was too much of a wrestling setup...I was there to fight Kevin Gill in that game but instead he threw his SFT thug at me. Not many people now that after they beat me I was knocked over and had SFT spraypainted on my back by Kevin.

Pete: That dosen't surprise me. He's been ducking my challenges for months now. HA!!!

Pete: I'M CALLING YOUR ASS OUT KEVIN!!! YOU AND ME IN WRESTLEMANIA 2000.

RavenCrucifix: Well before we go any further off on this tangent....I guess this'll be enough for now. And good luck to you in MPB. And if Kevin reads this....Three Way Dance!

Pete : Thanks... and a three way dance will have to be set up.