As a huge Cleveland Hardcore fan, I was very happy to finally see In Cold Blood a few months ago. I know their debut LP, Hell on Earth, by heart and have been known to claim its brilliance to be on par with Integrity’s best moments. After a very long hiatus, the band is now back, albeit with a very different line-up, and released the Legion Of Angels record this summer, out on Fastbreak Records.
Original member Blaze Tishko is at the center of the new line-up, now singing, while still playing guitar. The man also had stints in several Cleveland’s bands, including Integrity, One Life Crew and Ringworm, along with shorter-lived bands such as Gazzan (featuring the Melnick Brothers). I spoke to him before their set at Katacombes (RIP).
What have you been listening to the most lately?
It’s definitely not really been Metal or Hardcore, that’s for sure. A lot of 70’s music. QUEEN. Actually a lot of Queen, Night at the Opera. I’d never listened to that record ever. I’ve heard songs off of it, but never listened to the actual record. Then I saw the movie and I was enamored with the way that they made it, especially in like, ’71 or something, they made that record. That’s 20 years before Pro Tools and that was back when, if you wanted to make an elaborate record, you had to put the work in. It wasn’t like you can just put it on a computer screen and chop it up. You had to really create all those sounds and assemble the track. Bohemian Rhapsody is a great example of that. There’s like 30 some tracks of them just doing “Galileo”, you know, just the background vocals and stuff.
So yeah, a lot of 70’s Rock. I recently found this one FLEETWOOD MAC video, I’m a huge Lindsey Buckingham fan. He’s probably my second favorite…anything really, guitarist or singer, especially since I’ve been yelling and playing guitar. I’ve really grown to love them even more lately. I was big into his guitar before but now, I can really appreciate what he was able to do in the 70’s. I still listen to heavy music. I shouldn’t say I don’t. Honestly, I’ve been listening to a lot of my friends’ bands, like INMATES. I’ve listened to a lot of Inmates lately. I listened to that a lot on the way up here. That’s a local band, Aaron and Lenny (Melnick)’s band with Paul Schlacter from Cleveland. I listened to new INTEGRITY, not a ton, but I do listen to that. Heavy wise, I’m trying to think, I listened to ASSÜCK Anticapital record. Trying to think of what else…I don’t know, I’m not quite sure actually, I don’t really get a chance to listen to music like I used to. If I do, it’s usually at 1:30 in the morning, in my garage drinking beers by myself. But I guess I do get to do that a lot, actually!*Haha*
New music wise, I like MASTODON a lot. I don’t really like too much new stuff but as far as new band goes, I’m pretty enamored at what they are able to do. It’s only four guys and they’re able to make this monster sound with just four people and then three of the guys sing. The one guy yells sometimes but he doesn’t really sing or anything but the tones that they’re able to create within the four man group are pretty, pretty incredible. And their influences are great too. It kind of shows they’re really really big into 70’s Rock. 70’s Rock, for me, kind of saved me from boredom because I was on my way out for music probably if it wasn’t for that. I got introduced to a lot of ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and just this plethora of 70’s Rock. It was my friend Frank Novinec, from HATEBREED now actually, he has this monster record collection and he was just like, “try this, try this, try this.” and before you know, it was like, “Oh my gosh, I love music again!” In that time, in the 90’s, I was kind of getting done with Hardcore. Nothing new was coming out that was exciting me so that saved me from music. Recently, I’ve been getting back into Hardcore though. 80’s New York groove Hardcore bands, like BREAKDOWN, KILLING TIME/RAW DEAL and OUTBURST. I love those bands.
So that 70’s Rock is nothing that you grew up on, it all came later?
No, I found it later. I was not privy to it. I mean, I think I’d heard it here and there.
So then, going all the way back, what is your musical timeline? Starting from the very beginning, do you remember the first time that music had an impact on you?
Well, an impact, it was probably the first Hardcore show. I think I was 14 and the very first one was the ACCUSED, BROTHERHOOD and FALSE HOPE at this place called Sabers, in the flats, in Cleveland. I happen to be lucky enough that I had this guy…I went to like a hillbilly kind of a hick school but there was this one kid who drove, which was beneficial for us, because we were 45 minutes away from any shows so it wasn’t easy for us to get there, especially when we were under driving age. This poor guy, he was the only gay kid in the school and he was the only guy who really listened to that kind of stuff. He would drive us to all the shows and that show was big for sure. The first band that played was False Hope and I had my D.R.I. jean jacket on and I was in the front row watching this band and I was enamored by it. I couldn’t believe that this guy’s right here, five feet away from me, you know? The first show that I saw was ANTHRAX or something but it was at a weird theater and there were seats. It was cool but we’re standing up, 200 feet away from the band, banging your head. That’s cool, but it’s not quite the same. Then the next show was a legitimate Hardcore show. I didn’t really know False Hope but the songs were instantly memorable. As soon as you heard them, you knew them. But I knew the Accused stuff and that was like, “oh my gosh!” I knew those songs, they’re right there. 150 or 200 people just beating the shit out of each and back then dancing was a lot different too, everybody was kind of packed in the one area. There were fights and people getting hit and stuff but it wasn’t like you were getting karate chopped in the back your head or something like that. So that definitely was the first time it had a big impact on me.
Then I have to say, one of the next shows that I saw was INTEGRITY. Those guys are a little bit older than I am, I was probably once again, 14 or 15. I knew some songs, but definitely not all of them. They had started to play Darkness and March of the Damned and stuff. I certainly had never heard that and it wasn’t even recorded yet. It was way early, we’re talking probably ’89. The songs, you knew them right away. You could predict where the good parts were coming. It was weird, it felt like you already knew them before you even heard them. On one hand, I can count bands that have done that for me and they definitely are one of them. Obviously, it’s a weird situation because that was a huge influence on me and one of my favorite bands still to this day and I ended up being in it for a little bit. You know, the guy (Aaron Melnick) that was one of my guitar heroes wind up being my friend and pretty much showing me how to play guitar for the most part. I was already playing, but he was like, “Oh, this is how you play scales. And this is what this is. And this is how you play Master of Puppets solos.” I had nobody showing me anything up until that point so I have those guys to thank for a lot of stuff, that’s for sure. They introduced me to a lot, they exposed me to a lot and like I said, I got to be in a band with Aaron.
But yeah, that was probably the next one that was a monster impact. In between, there was a MURPHY’S LAW show, with LOST CAUSE and FALSE HOPE again. Murphy’s Law was huge in Cleveland, in the late 80’s, there must have been 900 people at the show. Big venue but cool and open, with a big tall stage but no barricade or anything like that. No chairs or whatever. That was probably the funnest show I’ve ever been to. I didn’t really like Murphy’s Law that much, but the show was incredible. So yeah, probably those three. You go to those first ones when you’re younger and they’re very impactful. They really, really touch you, you know?
In later years, what’s the last time you remember seeing a band and being really impressed with them?
MASTODON, definitely. The last time I saw them. I’ve seen them a couple times but the last time was really perfect. The venue was perfect, the sound was perfect, I was in a perfect spot. I didn’t drink on purpose because I wanted to be able to remember every single little bit of it. That was a couple years ago and I walked out of there like, “wow, I suck. I’m not good” *Hahaha* At the same time, I was happy to see that there was somebody out there taking what I was always wanting to do and running with it. That probably was the time when I was like, “well, maybe I should just play Hardcore for the rest of my life.” *Haha*
What would you say is the record you’ve listened to most in your life?
Probably ELO, A New World Record. I’ve listened to that record a ton. Jeff Lynne, I idolized him a lot. The way he can create things is pretty incredible. If I had to pick one, it was probably that. Heavy music wise, Those Who Fear Tomorrow (Integrity) probably is way up there. I probably listened to that more than I listened to Age Of Quarrel (Cro-Mags).
When I was younger, I was a huge IRON MAIDEN fan and not a huge JUDAS PRIEST fan. As I’ve gotten older, it’s kind of flipped but I definitely listened a lot to Live After Death. I knew where they tuned to and their solos were always in the same key so it was also one of those records that you could play along to and kind of make it sound like that, you know? So yeah, I listened to that record a lot. I actually listened to it yesterday.
What’s the first thing that strikes you when you listen to new music?
When something is good, it’s usually because it’s catchy. I’m a child of the 80’s, which was all about the hook. You know, VAN HALEN…and Glam Rock didn’t bother me, I thought it was good because I like hooky music. I like stuff that’s instantly memorable. A lot of people don’t like that, like people that are into Jazz, or whatever. Jazz is not really an instant memorable type of thing, or the Grateful Dead or something. I have friends that listen to that but I don’t quite understand how you remember the songs because it seems like it’s one long song, even though there’s 5000 different ones. But yeah, usually it’s because it’s catchy and there’s a hook in it and I can remember it right away. Sometimes there’s a technical proficiency to it that grabs me too. It’s weird, when you play an instrument, at least remotely okay, you sometimes don’t get to enjoy it as much, especially with heavy music, because all you can think about is, “I know exactly what that is.” It’s not challenging my brain much. I call it the curse, actually, it’s the curse of heavy music. For me at least, it’s not for everybody, obviously. That’s why I think I like MASTODON because I can listen to that, and it’s heavy, and I don’t know what the hell they’re doing. I really don’t, I don’t have a clue. I don’t even try and learn how to play the songs because I don’t want to ruin it. I want it to be a mystery.
But yeah, for the most part, it’s that but definitely a little bit of technical proficiency too. Even though I do like the hook, I also like stuff that keeps me guessing. There’s not much originality in riffs anymore. The riffs are kind of gone. There’s not much left. You know, food is the same way. There’s only so many things you’re going to do and make it very, very different. But what you can do in music is you can change the time signatures, and the bridges and how you lead into things. Hardcore is a lot of 4/4, which is good because it’s very easy to remember but at the same time, it kind of gets a little boring. So that would be the other part. Sometimes, I love the hook but I also like to be shocked a little bit. I want to kind of know what’s coming, but get hit out of left field too. Again, Mastodon is probably the best one at that right now, I would say. The riffs are good, they’re not the greatest in the whole world, but the way that they use the bridges to lead into certain parts is the uniqueness of it. That’s the only thing that’s really left in music right now, as far as trying to be original. The riffs are gone. The riffs have been taken by James Hetfield and Tony Iommi. Tony Iommi took them and he didn’t leave much.
Can you name three songs that you consider to be perfect and say what makes them so unique to you?
I would say that I’m So Afraid by FLEETWOOD MAC, to me, is pretty much perfection. The singing part of it is perfect, the guitar solo’s perfect, the end of it is perfect because it gets heavy, even for 1976 and a guy playing an electric guitar with his fingers. I’ve been listening to that a lot lately so that’s probably why it’s the first one that pops in my mind. I’ll say Telephone Line, even though there’s probably seven or eight different ones on A New World Record by ELO that are just as good. And Spill The Blood by SLAYER. It’s a pretty perfect heavy song. It’s got heavy, it’s got melodic, it’s got good solos. Yeah, I could go for a long time if you let me! There’s a lot that I can’t find much fault with it.
What would be your top 3 hardest riffs of all time?
I was going to say either Rebirth or Kingdom of Heaven (INTEGRITY). The main riffs in either one of those songs, I would say that’s a tie. We won’t differentiate, that’s just one. I can’t pick between the two which one’s better.
Snowblind, BLACK SABBATH. That one’s pretty perfect. As far as heavy, it doesn’t get much heavier than that.
When I think heavy I don’t think fast. I think slow and chuggy and grindy. I mean, I want to say a SLAYER song, probably something that’s on South Of Heaven but I’ve already said that one so I try and pick something else. The whole riffs of Clandestine by ENTOMBED. I’ll just say Sinners Bleed. It’s great.
Do you have any beloved music that you share and equally appreciate with either your parents or kids, if you have any?
I have a lot of kids actually. I have four children and a stepson. None of them listen to the music that I like. They listen to absolutely terrible music. My daughters who are younger, they listen to Pop. Well, actually, I’m not sure about my youngest daughter. She doesn’t really care about music too much yet. My sons, who I would love to have taken up in my footsteps and picked up a guitar or drums or whatever -I even bought them a drum set, hoping that they would get into it- so they listen to rap and I don’t understand. *Haha* And my wife listens to Country so I’m shot all the way around when it comes to that, but I love sending stuff to my friends though. It’s kind of a cool thing you can do now, especially when you’re older, is that if I find something, I’ll just ship it off to them. I probably drive some of them fucking crazy actually because I’m constantly sending ’em stuff. Something I thought maybe they’ve never heard or whatever. I have a couple buddies that do it to me too. I’ll stay up all night and just post up to Facebook non stop. I love doing that stuff. It doesn’t even have to be music, it can be movies, or whatever but I mostly do it with music, obviously. I love exposing people to stuff that’s brought me joy. It’s fun. That’s a cool part about life. Even though it probably drives them nuts that they get the two in the morning text with, you know, the 100 DEMONS record that they’ve never heard or something but I still keep doing it. If they listen to one out of five, then I won!
Yeah, I totally get it. This whole project started as an on-going conversation between the two of us, sending music back and forth and going, “well, we should just go out and ask people about it.”
Ah! Good idea.
Is there any band that you really wish you would have seen but missed out on? They broke up and you never got a chance to see them?
Oh, let’s see. I mean, there’s certainly a plethora of stuff from the 70’s that I never got to see. I screwed up and missed ELO. I was supposed to see them last Tuesday. It’s just Jeff Lynne and one other guy I think at this point, but who cares? Life just got in the way and there was no way for me to see it. So yeah, as recently as five days ago, I screwed up pretty bad. It was also three hours away too, which didn’t help much. But there’s a hot mess of bands from the 70’s for sure. Obviously, they’re way before my time but THIN LIZZY is probably one of them. I would have loved to seen that live. I would have loved to see Paul Di’Anno-era Maiden live, that would have been great. There’s a lot. It’s mostly old shit. I mean, I’ve been lucky to be able to go to a lot of shows in my life, my wife is pretty cool about letting me do that stuff. I have a buddy, Dave Torres, and we’re show buddies, we get in the car and we drive wherever we got to go and then we stay in the hotel. It’s like we’re married or something. We get drunk and we fall in love with each other all over again. *Haha* And before you know it, in the morning, we hate each other again, it’s just like you’re married actually. Pretty close. We don’t have sex, but then again, it’s just like being married so I guess it is the exact same thing.
I’m lucky to have a buddy that I get to do that a lot. And not just him, I have other buddies, I get to do it with. I just went out on a party bus of 40 person with a friend named Paul that owns a bar in Cleveland, and he got all these people to go see ALICE COOPER. We all love Alice Cooper. Even though probably 80% of the songs he played were not good but whatever, it’s still cool to go. You know, a party bus of 40 people and we’re old but most of those guys don’t really have kids or a wife or anything, so they can pull it off a little bit easier. We did a party bus to SLAYER last year, 15 or 20 of us. I’m lucky, I’ve gotten to see a lot more than I probably should have, being married with 4.5 kids. I think she understands that it’s important to me so she doesn’t really bust my chops. And then she gets to go to her really horrible Country concerts too. Sometimes. She doesn’t always go. They’re really bad.
None of it? You don’t like any of it?
I mean, to me, this new Country, it’s not even Country music. It’s just Pop music with a twang. If it was Country music, it would be different. You go to these things and these girls, they’re peeing in the woods and they’re falling all over their pee. The last time I went, I was sober, so I can drive her and I got to take in all of it. My wife’s a big dancer and I don’t dance. I dance in the pit maybe sometimes but that’s about it. Just dancing, I feel weird doing it, which makes no sense because I can get on stage and play guitar and it doesn’t bother me at all. I do like GARTH BROOKS, though because he sounds a little more…it’s just good I guess, really. It’s really good songwriting. I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem as cheesy to me for some reason. It’s almost like if Bruce Springsteen was a Country guy, that’s what it reminds me of. But hey, I mean, they must be doing something right, because there’s 20,000 people at these shows and millions of people love it.
What is the band that you’ve toured with that you were the most impressed with? The one that you had to watch their set, night after night?
I hate to say this, but I don’t think it’s happened yet. I know that sounds terrible but I’m an honest guy, you know? It’s not like I’ve played with too many bands that I really, really love. It’s just the way that it’s worked out. There’s bands that I like but not to the point of watching the set every single time. Although, it might be coming up, we’re playing five shows with this band called FIXATION and I like that band a lot. It’s probably the first time that I’ve been like, “I like that band, I want to be able to go on tour with them.” ALL OUT WAR (whom ICB was playing with that weekend), I know those guys but I never really listened to that band. Probably last night was the most I’ve ever listened to it in my life, I sat on a really cool spot to watch it. The stage was high, kind of a big fancy stage and there wasn’t too many people karate kicking me in the back of the head, just a little bit. So I just sat there, right on the edge of the stage and watched it like I was 14. That part was really cool. I enjoyed it, it was fun but I don’t really know the music that much. When those guys came out, I was kind of getting out of listening to that style of music, really. It’s not a knock on them or anything, it’s just the way it kind of worked out. I don’t know, maybe FURY OF FIVE? I didn’t really like them when we toured with them but then when they play it, I was like, “it’s actually pretty good, I kind of like it.” Sometimes, you go on tour with these bands and maybe you don’t like it going into it but then you listen to it 20 days in a row or something and you’re like, “Oh, actually, I kind of like it.” It’s just the way that it is, I don’t expect anybody to kiss my band’s ass either.
Do you have any unpopular music opinion you’d like to defend? Stuff that you love but can hardly get anyone to agree with you?
There’s definitely bands that I like that some of my friends would never listen to. The first couple INCUBUS records, and SMASHING PUMPKINS and stuff, my friends, like Aaron and Lenny, there’s zero chance of them ever listening to anything like that. So yeah, I would say there’s probably a couple of 90’s Alternative bands that I like, that none of my friends like. Somebody likes them because they’re bigger than everybody else’s.
I’m a huge Cleveland Hardcore fan. Can you name a dark horse of the Clevo scene that didn’t make it as big as they should have?
FALSE HOPE for sure. Nobody knows who they are really, outside of Cleveland at least. I know this will make some of my friends mad, like Dwid, but I think that INTEGRITY probably wouldn’t have existed without them. They might have but it seemed to me like they were kind of a precursor for Integrity. A couple of the guys from False Hope ended up in Integrity. Yeah, False Hope is a sneaker band that never really had a record deal, they only released three demos and they’re probably the best band from Cleveland. I mean, Integrity probably is still a little bit better, maybe I should take that back but False Hope was first so you got to give credit to whoever comes first for sure.
I’ll check it out for sure. One of my favorite lesser known band from Cleveland is HEAVYWEIGHT. Weren’t you in that band? Did they ever play live or was it just a demo?
No, I was never in it. 20 years ago or so, I think I went on stage and played some solos with them but that was it. This was before Tony (aka Chubby Fresh) got super polarized. They played back then and I think they were playing as of recently. I think they’re playing again next month or something. But no, I was never technically in it but my friend Tyson wrote that CD or demo, I don’t think it’s ever been on vinyl. But I’m friends with the guy that wrote it, he’s really good at guitar. I always thought he played the solos at the end but I guess it’s actually the other guy that played all those solos.
I know you’ve said you don’t listen to too many new bands but any up and coming bands you’d like to mention?
FIXATION, for sure. To me, it’s the most refreshing thing I’ve heard in a while, Hardcore wise. It sounds like YOUTH OF TODAY meets INFEST or something like that to me. I think it’s good. There was another band that we’re playing with too called LOW END. It’s good. I like Fixation a little bit better but Low End is kind of a more metallic version of it but they don’t really have the Infest kind of influence that Fixation does.
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