Entrevista a Lou Koller (SOIA)

Ora bem, já tenho isto guardado desde o ano passado e entretanto esqueci-me de partilhar esta pequena entrevista que foi feita na ocasião da NY United Tour que passou por corroios.Aqui têm o resultado final, hope you enjoy it!

Entrevista a Lou Koller (SOIA)

Foi no dia 22 de Novembro do ano passado que tivemos a honra de receber no Cine Teatro de Corroios a New York United Tour com Madball e Sick of it All de Nova Iorque a encabeçar o cartaz e a abrir Anal Hard e Cold Blooded, espanhóis e portugueses respectivamente.

Tivémos a oportunidade de conversar por instantes com o vocalista de Sick of it All, e aqui têm o que resultou dessa pequena troca de palavras.

So, you guys have the NY United tour going and I wanted to ask you how is It going and how does it feel doing this tour together with Madball, since you guys are two of the most important bands in the NY hardcore scene?

Lou: Many hanks for that but, the tour has been going great, it's been a lot of fun. We've known each other for many many years and we've toured together before. In the states we did Persistence Tour but it was, you know, also with Terror, Comeback Kid and Walls of Jericho and all that, but this is just with Madball. The time was right 'cause you know, both of us have new records out and also for the fans to try and do something special you know? So that's why we put it together.

And how does it feel to still be active after more than 20 years of career?

It's a double-edged sword. When we're here in Europe it's amazing because we have young kids and the old fans and in the United States it's more of a generational thing. It's weird there'll be a band that sounds exactly like either us or Madball, they're kids who are in their twenties and that's who those kids go see, they don't give a crap about the older bands. Some of them do, but not a lot.

What it your stance in relation to what people say that “hardcore is dead”, because Madball came out with a song that's pretty clear on that. What would you say to those people?

It's dead for them . And it's the same thing when somebody asks me about this tour and they say “ This is historical because you guys are the last of the great hardcore bands and a tour like this will never happen “. I was like “Yes maybe for our generation” but for a younger generation maybe there's two bands that 5, 10 years from now they're gonna be like “I can't believe they're touring together”.

What do you guys do in your professional life besides being in a hardcore band, because lots of people think that hardcore artists live only from this?

Well, we do this to make a living, but we have been lucky. Sometimes it's very hard, when we stop writing we stop making money and we get jobs like everybody else. When I'm home now, I have a baby daughter, she's only five months old so I take care of her, it's a lot of fun. But other than that, I used to work with my brothers, my older brothers do construction, whatever you can you know? And it was all just to keep doing this.

We know that Freddy for instance, has a Hip Hop project, and I don't know if for you guys Hip Hop has been an influence so, do you feel that it has been an influence and in what way is it similar to hardcore for you?

Definitely. Back in the old days in the early days of Hardcore, Hip Hop was coming up at the same time and a lot of Hip Hop artists would come down to CBGB's and be amazed. Back on our first album we had KRS-One do an intro and we have done shows with KRS-One. So yeah, of course it's an influence, you can hear it in the groove parts of all the songs.

Do you guys ever feel the urge to do something completely different?

We've tried different stuff, me, not really. I mean, every hardcore singer now goes out and do an acoustic project and all that. Me, I'm not cut out for that stuff, I love this, I've always loved this, this is what moves me. Yeah, I like some acoustic artists but I like them doing it, I don't wanna hear me sing acoustic.

You were speaking about your album that came out this year, so I wanted to know what is different in the creation process of an album since you guys are now a mature band and well-defined since previusly you were just angry kids?

That's exactly what it is. I mean, In the first two albums it was just me and Pete mostly, Armand wrote some songs, even Craig before he was in the band he wrote one song with us in the first record, but it was mostly me and Pete just venting our frustrations, and then by the time of “Scratch the Surface”, it was all four of us, then the last two records was musically Pete and Armand and I would write lyrics and Armand would write lyrics...and it was more mature. It's not just hating the world, it's being angry for a purpose and stuff like that.

Could you tell us about your first experience in hardcore and how it changed you?

Aw man!My first experience was at CBGB'S. The first show I went to was Corrosion of Conformity back when they sounded like Black Flag and had the singer of the “eye for an eye” era. And it was amazing, and the next weekend I got a flyer and it said “ Next week – Agnostic Front homecoming show” and this is the Victim in Pain, it was 1985, it was a long time ago. And that was the show that changed everything for me 'cause we went in and everybody had a shaved head, It was like a tribute of AF coming home from their US tour, and I had long hair and nobody gave a shit. I'm sitting there talking to this guy and he turns around and walks on stage and it was Vinnie Stigma and that feels different. I'm like “I just talked to the guy from the band and he didn't have an attitude, he didn't have bodyguards and just wanted to hang out” and it was fucking great.

What do you feel has propelled you more into the hardcore scene?

To me it was the sense of acceptance, you didn't have to look a certain way, you didn't have to dress a certain way. I know there is a style to hardcore know and even we adapted. I cut my hair like after the third week of going hardcore, I cut it short. I could've kept it long if I wanted it to but I felt cooler cutting it (laughs). But yeah, my big thing is that you could look and be whatever you wanted. I don't think it's true today anymore, but personally I still do what the hell I want.

How would you, in your opinion, describe the Hardcore community and its main values?

To me, the main values is, like I said, open-mindedness. Try to be accepting of each other and yeah, everybody has a different opinion around that and sometimes you disagree with it but at least when we're here at these shows, everybody should just get along.

Just to finalize this interview, do you have a message for the portuguese crowd?

Thanks for all the years of support ,I mean, we're really grateful. I know it sounds cheesy, but people don't understand how grateful we are to be able to do this our whole lives. And now I have a daughter and I'm proud to show her like, photographs and stuff. Even when she gets a little older I hope, if we're still going to bring her over to Europe and meet the people. And it is a cheesy saying, I think Hardcore did save our lives. It took us out of our little neighborhoods in New York and showed us the world and different ideas that people had. And that's why I think we're more broad-minded and I think it really helped us develop our character.