Shutdown on 10-10-2000 by propheci

This interview was with Steve, the guitar player of Shutdown.

You guys just started touring like two days ago right?
Yeah, about 3 days ago. With One King Down.

How have been the shows?
Really good. Really great kids showing up, supporting the show. One King Down's from Albany. We're from New York City. So it's like a New York thing. It's been really good. Last night was awesome in Chicago.

How big of a places have you been playing?
Usually 300-400 capacity. We like to play small clubs so we get more energy. So it's like watching the band from 50-feet away. Basically small clubs; it's more fun that way.

And the tour's gonna go for a month or two?
Yeah, it ends on November 11th. That's the last date. It'll end in Pennsylvannia or New Jersey.

How was the recording of the new CD?
We really like the new CD. We recorded at a place called The Blue Meanie in New Jersey. It used to be called Quantum. Madonna did her first 3 albums there. Rage mixed their albums there. It's a great, great studio. Great people working there, very dedicated. Roger from Agnostic Front helped produce it. We're just very happy with it. We've gotten a lot of good reviews. Soundwise, it was amazing. Just about anybody can appreciate the quality of the record.

How has the recording process changed from the first album to now?
Well, the quality of the first album was that great. We didn't get great equipment; we were kids. We had no money; we still have no money. We spent it all on buying new equipment and learning howto use it. We've progressed as a band and matured as people. We learned a lot from playing with bands like Sick of It All, Agnostic Front, Cromag. Those guys took us aside, told us tricks about recording. We did an EP. Things here and there all paid off for us. We learned from all the mistakes from the first album and demos before it. Took all the influences from the other bands we liked and just put it all together. We think it all worked out really went. We put a lot of effort into every single song.

Has the band's influences changed from the first record to now?
We've been really the same. We keep the same energy from bands like Youth of Today and Minor Threat and Sick Of It All. But still have the heavy, groovy sound that bands like Strife or Earth Crisis have, and Madball. We always tried to combine that. And the other thing is that we try to keep that energy. Anybody that's ever seen us live will tell you that we have great energy when we play so we try to put that on the record. In terms of bands, we've kept the same influences. Everybody has outside influences like Chilli Peppers, Zeppeline, Doors, or whatever. But it's always been pretty much the same.

How long did the recording take?
In there, including mixing. Took us about 13 days, straight. It was pretty intense. 12-13 hours a day.

When you guys recorded, was it like one person recorded over and over again alone or was it a group effort?
Well, the first three days, it was just Dion, the bass player, Jimmy, the drummer and me went in there. We got the drum tracks done. Jimmy did his bass and I did mine. Mark went in there to do vocals. Then we did the backups. We sort of did it step by step. And the mix we were all there for that. That took about 3 to 4 days. Otherwise, we sort of critiqued everyone else's stuff to make sure we were happy with everything.

After this tour, do you have anything planed?
After this tour, we are booked for Europe with Agnostic Front and Ignite, which we really look forward to. It's a humongus tour. We are so happy we're on it. We were just hanging out with Agnostic Front last night when we played Chicago. They are the nicest guys; they totally look out for us. Once we were on tour and met up with them in South Carolina. We played a show with them and after the show, we didn't have any money. So we were just gonna drive through the night. But Agnostic Front told us we can just stay at their hotel. We were like "uh..alright". So when we got to their room. They were like, "OK, you guys take the beds. We'll sleep on the floor." It was amazing. We toured with them March of this year. Totally the same thing, looked out for us. They're like our uncles, greatest guys in the world.

Is that going to be in 2001?
No, that's going to be in November and half of December. We literally have 1 or 2 days between the 2 tours. It's pretty sick, but it's worth it. After that, we're trying to get a Japanese promoter and in Australia. We're gonna try to tour there. And after that, we're gonna come back to the US and tour. We're just gonna tour for this album constantly.

How do you see the current hardcore scene?
4 or 5 years ago, it really started to get big again. We played places like Houston, Detroit, Chicago with tons and tons of kids. But New York is pretty rough right now. There was a lot of idiots in the scene. A lot of fights in it. So a bunch of clubs didn't want the shows anymore. And we've seen that in a few spots across the country, but not as much as NY. It's a little bit of tough times because kids are causing trouble. But I think they'll start to see that fighting is pointless. But for the most part, I think it's still a strong scene. A lot of kids are getting into it all the time. We're gonna try to get them into it and teach them about the bands.

What do you think about bands that are sXe or affiliate themselves with certain ideals? Do you think that should be a part of hardcore?
I think everybody should play hardcore just to have fun. Once you label yourself, it sort of segregates people. We were labeled as a straightedge band, and we really tried to get away from the label. Everyone in the band totally supports being straightedge, but at the same time, if you're not, it's cool. Anytime a band labels themselves, it sorta makes other people uncomfortable. We want to avoid that as much as we can. Bands that do, they usually find that it doesn't really work. If you're sXe, you can tell people that you're sXe, but to preach about it, that we've found that really pushes kids away. I don't think it really helps that much for the scene in general.

Do you see any bands coming up that could be really big in a few years?
Bands like Hatebreed is getting huge right now. Bands like Sworn Enemy from Queens is getting big. They're good friends of ours. They're doing pretty good right now. I dunno. It depends on your definition of what really big is. A lot of not straight-up hardcore bands. Saves The Day is getting humongus. New Found Glory is getting big. In the scene, a lot of the bands sound so alike. Really tough to tell you what bands are gonna get big.

What was the band doing between the last album and now?
Well, to be honest, we've touring straight for the past 2 years. We took this summer off after we recorded the album. Everybody just got whatever jobs we could. Mark works at H&V Records in New York. Dion was working at a restaraunt with his father. Jimmy went back to school. I got a job as a painter. Just to pay bills, cuz you don't make any money doing what we do. So we had to go and get whatever jobs we could for 2 or 3 months. We try to go back to school cuz none of us have graduated from college. And we know we need that to fall back on. You never know how long this is gonna last even though we want it to last for a long time. Before I was a painter, I was working at a bagel store just 2 blocks away from my house.

How long do you see your band doing the band thing? As long as it goes?
Honestly, it's tough to tell. Because 6 years ago, when we started, it was like "Whatever happens, happens." 2 years later, we were doing 7 inches and EPs. We were just like, "This is cool." Before we know it, we were signed to Victory. Then we had to record our first album. Now it's the second album. 6 months ago, I could've told you that I'm not even sure we're gonna make it until the end of year and now I'm thinking 2 years, no problem.

When you guys started, were you all friends?
Yeah, Jimmy, Mark, and I all went to the same highschool. And our old bass player went to the same highschool. Even though we were in different grades, we had mutual friends who went to hardcore shows. So we all met and hung out. Dion played in another band in Brooklyn called "Model Head" (??) When our old bass player left, he joined. Everybody's from Brooklyn. We did sorta hang out at shows before we started playing. That helps a lot.

Is there any goals you set with the band or in general before you stop?
The biggest thing for us isn't selling X amount of records. We've happy that we've been able to play with almost every band in creation. We even played with Gorilla Biscuits once. It's amazing. The only thing we try to do is get rid some of these tough guys in the scene. We really try to have a postive message associated with hardcore. Just get as many as kids into it as we can. There's a lot of bands that give the image of being hardcore, but not really hardcore. Not just because they're on MTV, but they just don't know what it's really about. Some kids get the wrong impressions. We actually would like to get as many kids into hardcore for the right reasons. That's sorta like a goal that's not really a goal. But mostly, we just do it for fun.

Oh, yeah. What can you tell us about the cover song on the new album?
Yeah, that's a Warzone cover. Warzone was a big influence for us. Raybeez, the singer, who passed away a few years ago. He always looked out for us. He basically got us signed to Victory by telling them about us. Sort of ironic, because after he passed away, we played a benefit show for his family. And that's where Victory saw us play. On our first album, we did a song called We Won't Forget. And we just followed it up by doing a cover.