Working Poor

When I first started going to Hardcore shows in '07, I felt like an outsider. A friend of mine had introduced me to a few of the people who regularly attended gigs at our finest local establishment, The Hideaway, but I still felt that somehow I just didn't belong. I'd grown up in the Metal scene, going to shows with dudes who were way older than me and that's what I was used to. Mind you, I've loved Hardcore since my teens but until a few years ago, I'd never been to any real hardcore shows. Growing up in Wise, VA you come to find that those just don't happen. So, when I discovered this beautiful scene in East Tennessee, I was immediately drawn to it. However, as I said at the beginning, it's still tough being the new guy.

I remember one of the first friendly faces I ever met was a guy named Ben Peterson, more commonly known as Ben Pete to those who know him best. Ben went out of his way to be friendly, welcoming, and downright cool to me the first time he ever ran into me at a show and I've considered him a friend ever since. In terms of good people, that dude is still one of the best you could ever hope to meet. Back in '09, he started up a band with some other great dudes I knew from Abingdon, VA. Ben was singing, Alex Bice was on guitar, Derek Holman was on bass, and Cory Singleton was on drums. They called themselves In Time.

In September of that year, I was lucky enough to attend In Time's first show. The turnout for that particular show wasn't great, for some reason. Regardless, I stood at the front of the stage with Neal and Alex from Mind Sludge, and watched as In Time blazed through one of the most fun, energetic Hardcore sets I'd ever seen. The combination of their old school meets new school sound, Ben's lyrical sincerity, and the fact that they really believe in their message of unity, hope, and perseverance was enough to sell me on In Time from the get-go. Since that night, I've had the chance to see them play even more shows and keep getting better as a band, in the process.

Ben, Alex, and Derek got in touch with me the other night and I decided to interview all of them for this blog. The guys have released a few demo's, and the one included in this blog, "Johnson City Hardcore" is my favorite of the bunch. Consisting of two songs, this is the best they've ever sounded in terms of recording and songwriting. Kevin Lane was actually able to translate the band's live energy in the studio, and when you hear it, you'll definitely be inclined to agree. But until then, scope an interview with In Time. Of all the interviews I've done in my life, this easily ranks as the most fun I've ever had during one. Enjoy.

Funeral South: You guys just finished practicing right? Any new material come from this particular jam?

Ben: Yeah, we got like half of another new song done. We should get it finished within the next practice.

Derek: It's much different from stuff weve done in the past. I think it's awesome, so hopefully everyone else will too.

Alex: It doesn't have tits, but still it's pretty cool.

Funeral South: Haha, I saw on your Twitter where you said this song was mean. I don't think I've ever classified any of your songs, even as aggressive as they are, to be mean in any way. What's different about this one?

Alex: I just wrote some shit right then, and Derek made some shit up. Then, Ben hummed some sick riffs.

Derek: The longer we are a band the less we are inspired by other bands...more of doing whatever the fuck you want, ya know?

Ben: I don't know. The riff sounds really driving and makes me wanna do bad things. Wait till you hear the guitar solo and the singing parts!

Funeral South: So you're telling me that Alex's inner shredder is coming to life?

ALL: Yes.

Ben: We listened to Hendrix all the way to practice and then it came out of him. Realistically, it sounds like a 108 groove riff.

Funeral South: That's most definitely a new influence. It's hard to believe you guys have been together over a year now. In fact, I saw the first show and the most recent show and unlike most cases, it's not like I've seen two separate bands. You guys are still very much the way you were over a year ago but with an even tighter, more diverse sound.

Ben: Thanks homie. Yeah, I mean, we are a hardcore punk band, and that's all we'll ever be so some drastic change in sound you will never hear. Keith Morris had a point when he said, "Get through the intro, trim the fat, do the outro, and boom! Song's finished."

Derek: That's pretty much what we're going for. We wanna do new and different shit for your listening pleasure without straying too far from what we wanted to be when we started the band. Like I said before, we're more on writing what we want to write now as opposed to picking a certain style and trying hard to stick to it.

Alex: Yeah, I mean it's all coming out of our head, so there will undoubtedly always be some level of continuity to it. We'll never sound like a different band than what we started as, because we don't know how a different band would even go about writing songs.

Funeral South: As far as influences are concerned, who DOES musically inspire you as individuals and collectively as a band?

Derek: Agnostic Front is a big one, plus lots of old shit like Warzone, Breakdown, 108, Inside Out, and anything I think sounds awesome at the moment when I want to create a riff.

Alex: Recently Youth of Today, Judge and Justice are about the only hardcore bands i've listened to. I don't want to be that guy, but I usually just listen to Paul Simon or Jefferson Airplane or some shit.

Ben: As for me, I only EVER wanted to be in a band where I could at least try and sound like Roger Miret and Agnostic Front. They have always been my favorite band. Of course Freddy Madball is an influence on vocals too. Even though I sound nothing like him, he is still one of my favorites. His energy, charisma and presence are untouchable. Those are the main two for me, but there are so many more though. I mean Gorilla Biscuits' "Start Today" helped me change the way I thought about things at a young age, when I first heard it. H20 did the same thing.

Derek: And Waka Flocka Flame too.

Funeral South: The last one makes more sense than the others, since you guys DO go hard in the paint...

ben: Always.

Funeral South: You guys have put out three demos, the most recent being the "Johnson City Hardcore" demo, recorded with Kevin Lane in Kingsport, TN. That demo is the one going with this interview on Funeral South. How do you think it measures against your other releases, and when will the next release be coming?

Derek: As far as recording quality goes, I will have to say it's an obvious improvement. Kevin definitely knows what he's doing and any bands looking to get recorded should check him out. Musically...I feel the same, as far as it being an improvement to our older stuff. I still like our older stuff and we continue to play it live, but I feel the new stuff is more diverse and our songwriting abilities have improved greatly. We used to pretty much depend on Alex to riff the whole song on guitar and then just piece it together. Now, the whole bands is getting more involved and we are sharing more ideas. I think each time we write a song everything improves a little bit and we are more happy with the results. As far as a new release goes, I'm not so sure about that. We have a song recorded that is going to be on a 7" comp that Dave Conrad is doing, so you should hear that shit some time soon. We're pretty much just writing and playing it by ear. We'll probably be recording as we go, for a while at least.

Alex: Yeah, as far as the recording quality goes, Kevin's our man. The stuff he's recorded for us sounds worlds better than anything else we've got. I don't know that I necessarily like any of our songs better than any others. It's like picking which of your children you like better in a way, but I think, from a technical standpoint, the newer songs are improving on the older ones. You just get better at writing songs the more you write, or I feel like I have anyway. I'm always impressed when younger kids can write awesome stuff. I mean, listening to the shit Stronghold writes I am impressed even more when I think about how young those kids are and what shitty music I wrote at that age. It's definitely been a good thing for us to write the songs AT practice though, because all of us have good ideas that we can put into the song instead of writing the whole song and then fitting other parts to it. The last two songs we've written though, we just got to practice and said, "Hey, let's write a song." Nobody had anything beforehand and we left with a song, or most of one anyway. I just play something and if it sounds cool, we use it, so at some point everything that we have we're using it because we like it. I don't know where I'm going with this though, so I'll leave it at that.

Ben: Yep, that pretty much gets it. Jake Moore sings on a track and that's like a life goal for me! Pick up the 7" that Dave Conrad is doing too. It has our new song on it, Dave rules, and has helped us out since Day 1.

Funeral South: What do you guys think it is about East Tennessee that inspires the level of quality you achieve with hardcore? I think of all the bands like yourselves, Fingers Crossed, IROM, Stand Your Ground, Stronghold, Bruteforce, etc. and how each band is unique in their own way but each band also brings something great to the table.

Alex: I don't know anything about achieving a level of quality. We just write stuff we like and then we play it. I think if that's where your music comes from, it will have some redeeming quality and somebody somewhere will connect with it, regardless of what it is. We are definitely very lucky to have bands like those in the area though.

Ben: I think it all comes down to influences. Within every band around here, we all have different influences, and all sound different. But we all influence each other too. No band around here cares a damn about what is "cool" music to play. Bruteforce was playing the Merauder/Biohazard NYHC style way before it blew up, in the last couple years.

Derek: I think the area does have an impact on what kind of music we are writing and what quality we go for, to an extent. All the bands here do influence each other in some way. It seems to me that the bands and kids in this area don't really care about what is poppin' off currently. Bands like Hammer Bros. and The Carrier bring the crowd here. Not Fire and Ice or Dead End Path. This area is real and I know our band is influenced lyrically by the struggles put in front of us in an area like this. Work your ass off for a little bit of nothing. That's the way of life and I think our lyrics reflect that a lot.

Funeral South: So, as a band, what are you guys shooting for in the future? Any serious touring on the horizon, maybe even a full length at some point?

Derek: We will do as much touring as we can, if the opportunity calls. We have people in school, working full-time jobs, and Cory is raising a kid. I know that playing music is a big part of everyone in this band's lives. We wish we could do it all the time, but life happens, ya know? I'm not sure about a full length. Like I said before, we will probably be recording songs as we write them for a while. Releasing a full length would be expensive as a mother fucker for some broke dudes like us. So, we will do the best we can with getting new songs up to be heard and keep shit fresh.

Ben: Yep, I would love nothing more than to hop in a van, and just go wherever to play punk rock, but that's hard to do. Unless we get signed to Universal records and tour with Hatebreed, we'll probably just keep recording a song at a time, haha.

Alex: I just made plans for what I'm going to do tomorrow just now. I don't know what will happen next week, or the week after that, so who knows. We didn't plan on writing anything new tonight, but it happened and I'm excited about it. So I guess a full length album would be cool, but we're not trying to sit down and write a whole album any time soon. Like they said, we all have a lot going on...and Cory has a kid, so he's going to have to be in bed by 10:30.

Funeral South: Now, it's time to wrap this up with the Hard Hits round.

Derek: Oh boy!

Funeral South: 6 random questions for you dudes that you'll answer even more randomly!

Ben: Yes!

Funeral South: I know I'm talking to fellow movie buffs, so in your opinions, who is taking home the Best Picture Oscar this year?

Alex: I'd give it to The Fighter or Black Swan, but The Social Network was good and Fincher and the cast and crew are just as deserving for that, I think. I'd give you a much more definitive answer if you asked Best Cinematography or Director.

Ben: This year's nominees (the 4 or 5 that actually have a chance to win) were all great movies and whoever wins, be it The Kings Speech, The Fighter, Black Swan or The Social Network, deserve it. There isn't a bad or wrong choice there. My personal favorite was The Fighter, followed closely by Black Swan. BUT, I think The Social Network will win because of the lasting impact it will have on our culture.

Derek: Out of all of those, I only saw The Fighter. But, that shit was dope...so I hope it wins.

Funeral South: If you could obtain cell phone n00dz from any female, who would it be?

Derek: My girlfriend. She's pretty hot.

Ben: Katy Perry.

Alex: I mean, tits are cool.

Ben: Sammy's ex-girlfriend, hahaha!

Derek: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Funeral South: I will totally back the last answer.


Ben: Dat booty look good too.

Funeral South: On the subject of Sammy, who do you think would win in a fight between Sammy Pain (guitarist of Fingers Crossed) and the entire lineup of Throwdown?

Alex: Well, obviously Throwdown. He's buff, but he can't beat up the whole band by himself. That shit's silly. I bet I could beat him in a footrace though.

Derek: Supposing this is Royal rumble Style. I'd say he could throw a few motherfuckers out, but I don't know about the whole band. And don't listen to Alex, as far as footracing goes. I'm out of shape, and yet I have bested that fucker every chance I've had.

Ben: Well, if Throwdown are still a Straight Edge band, Throwdown wins. If not, Sammy wins because those motherfuckers let down the Edge and are now weak. Sammy Pain still has that edge cake to whoop 'em with!

Funeral South: Almost there, dudes. What is the sketchiest show you've ever played?

Ben: None yet, but I'm down to find them. Put me up in a meth house or some shit! I'll rock that motherfucker!

Derek: Sketchiest? Probably any time my boy, Cody Novak, was in the crowd.

Alex: I don't know, man. If they've got a toilet and electrical outlets I guess they're doing alright. We've never really played any place really sketchy, but that's all relative.

Funeral South: Derek mentioned Cody Novak. If only one Bruteforce member could have a reality show on Fox, which one would it be?

Derek: Obviously, it would be him, without question. Dude is hilarious.

Ben: Novak, doin' wild shit.

Alex: I think there should be a network dedicated to Sammy lifting weights.

Funeral South: And finally...role reversal...do you dudes have a question for me?

Derek: I want to know about the finest pair of tits you've ever laid your eyes upon.

Ben: And just who's noodz would YOU like to acquire?

Alex: If you were sentenced to death would you rather be hanged, guillotined, or lethal injection...and no bullshit, badass answer. I mean, for real.

Funeral South: Derek, her name was Lilith and she lived in Bristol. She had a baby though, and while those monsters were even bigger, so was the rest of her. Ben, Athena Sexton.
Alex, I'd prefer decapitation over any of those simply because the body survives for a few moments after the head comes off. If I had to die, I'd want to experience what that feels like beforehand.

Derek: Alright, but before the guy cuts your head off, just for a laugh, he's going to stick three fingers in your ass. You still cool with that?

Funeral South: Absolutely not...but get at me when I have a little less shame, and we'll talk about it. You dudes have been awesome sports and this interview has killed. Do you have any last words for the folks at Funeral South?

Derek: Thanks for doing the interview. Keep doing what you're doing, because this shit rules. Shouts outs to all of our E.T.H.C. boys and the bands here who go hard as fuck every time. Get wild in the pit at the next show!

That concludes my interview with In Time, a great band...and even greater dudes. See you next week on Funeral South with a big feature for the grind junkies! For now, enjoy "Johnson City Hardcore" by In Time!

Johnson City Hardcore