How I love the feeling of stumbling upon new music that totally fall down my alley! Something that weirdly seems to have been written specifically for you.
One of the magic recipe for me is to blend the aggression of Cleveland Hardcore with the relentlessness of Thrash Metal, wrapped into a dirty Punk package, filled with tempo changes. Lucky for me, this is exactly what I discovered a few days ago with Massachusetts’ band Maniac. Seconds after getting through their new LP War & Insanity, I found myself contacting their singer Will Hirst for an interview. In turn, Will, who also plays drums in Hardcore Punk band Restraining Order, accepted and pumped out these answers in record time. If ever there was an impulse interview on this blog, that would be it! Sit back and enjoy this perfect storm. -Ben F.
Name five songs that you consider “perfect songs” and explain why or what they mean to you.
DIE KREUZEN – All white – You know a song is great when a band has multiple versions of it with different productions and they all sound great. My favorite version of this song is the one on Die Kreuzen’s first LP. That record has some of the most absurd sounding double tracked vocals. This song provokes some pretty strange images in my head.
HUSKER DÜ – Eiffel tower high – I’m a fan of songs that start off feeling a certain way and then build up to a climax of a even stronger feel. I’m sure there’s a more textbook term for what I’m talking about but I’ll refer to it as the “Hey Jude” effect for now. Any time Husker Dü has a part where Bob Mould strums one chord and Greg Norton plays a separate bass line, it’s pure bliss on the ears.
DEATH IN JUNE – Mourner’s bench – This is technically a cover of a song by JIM JONES’ PEOPLE’S TEMPLE CHOIR. The original version is pretty eerie given the context of what would happen years later. However if I heard the Death In June version of this song, I too would probably drink the Kool Aid because it’s that good.
U2 – All I want is you – I’ve been a U2 apologist for years now. I don’t really like anything they did after the 80’s but you can’t overstate the influence that the Edge had on jangly guitar music. So much Indie Rock takes from that style of guitar playing that I argue begins with the Edge. The ending of this song with the string arrangements is pretty unreal. The Rattle & Hum record brings back a lot of memories of my father who passed away a few years back. He was a U2 fan but always thought Bono was kind of a phony. Can you blame him?
THE SONICS – Boss hoss – The first Sonic’s record is so ahead of it’s time it’s not even funny. There’s a lot of aggressive Garage Rock from this era, but I feel like this really took it to another level. If you attempt to trace the origins of Punk Rock and skip this record, you’re an idiot. Spend less time on VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO, and more time on this. Also the drum sound on this song! Are you kidding me? There was probably like one shitty mic hanging over him and it sounds monstrous. (Full disclosure: I like that Velvet Underground record, I just like this more)
Honorable Mentions:
WIPERS – Over the edge
SIEGE – Grim reaper
RAMONES – Today your love, tomorrow the world
Five greatest hardcore EP’s of all time? (can include demos.)
Five doesn’t even get me out of the 80’s, so here’s 13 of my favorites in no particular order :
Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown
Discharge – Realities of War
Minor Threat – Filler
Negative Approach – S/T 7″
Poison Idea – Pick Your King
YDI – A Place In The Sun
Raw Deal – Demo ’88
Inside Out – No Spiritual Surrender
Infest – Mankind
Ringworm – ’91 Demo
Down But Not Out – Demo
American Nightmare – The Sun Isn’t Getting Any Brighter
Who are your five favorite drummers?
Dave Grohl
Chuck Biscuits (Black Flag/Circle Jerks/Danzig)
Mackie Jayson (Cro-Mags)
Dave Lombardo (Slayer)
John Stanier (Helmet)
Five hardest riffs of all time?
1. HATEBREED – Driven by suffering – great fast part into possibly the hardest slam part ever written. Perfectly landed snare hits by Jamie Pushbutton. A lot of heavier hardcore bands can’t quite figure out that in order for a breakdown to fully hit you need a good fast part before it. Hatebreed perfected that formula on this record.
2.DISCHARGE – Protest & survive – Unbelievably hard riff that set the template for many other hard riffs including Last Rights’ Chunks and Cro-Mags’ Hard times.
3. SLAPSHOT – Dealing with pennies – Most people don’t think of fast parts being “hard riffs.” Not this guy!
4. CELTIC FROST – Dethroned emperor – This list could’ve been 5 songs from this record but this one is pretty fucking hard. Someone pointed out to me a long time ago that this riff was just a variation of Am I evil? by DIAMOND HEAD, but neither Diamond Head nor Metallica had a guitar tone quite like the one on Morbid Tales. Tom G Warrior should be in the Rock & Roll hall of fame for inventing that guitar tone.
5. METALLICA – The thing that should not be – Specifically the chorus riff. This might’ve been the first Metal song featuring a guitar tuned down a whole step. I always say that you don’t need to down-tune to be heavy, but when the riffs are already heavy on an absurd level, it can certainly increase the impact.
What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Lyrics that have been important to you or that had an impact on you? (it could be a specific line or verse, or the general work of a particular lyricist)
“Responsibility made me quit, sick of this motherfucking goddamn shit” – Jerry A (POISON IDEA), Just to get away
“You’re a loudmouth baby, you better shut it up, I’m gonna beat you up, you’re a loudmouth babe” – Dee Dee/Johnny Ramone – Joey Ramone, Loudmouth
What are your ten favourite albums of all time (all genres)? Name a standout track on each of these albums.
Alright this was incredibly difficult to narrow down but I’d say these are the ten records that have had the most impact on me and I apologize that the list is half Hardcore records. My only guideline was one record per artist.
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique – The sounds of science
Metallica – Master of Puppets – Master of puppets
Cro-Mags – Age of Quarrel – Life of my own
Black Flag – Damaged – Police story
Integrity – Systems Overload – Armenian persecution
The Cult – Electric – Electric ocean
Discharge – Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing – The possibility of life’s destruction
Joy Division – Closer – The eternal
Slayer – Reign In Blood – Altar of sacrifice
Nirvana – In Utero – Very ape
Honorable mentions that didn’t make the cut:
Mobb Deep – The Infamous
Poison Idea – Feel the Darkness
Killing Joke – S/T
Husker Dü – Candy Apple Grey
Helmet – Strap It On
The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come
Embrace – S/T
Nas – Illmatic
Weezer – Blue Album
Breeders – Pod
Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral
Ramones – S/T
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Converge – When Forever Comes Crashing
Oasis – (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory
Godflesh – Streetcleaner
Slint – Spiderland
What were you listening to in elementary school? then in high school? (Your favorite bands/records back then?) How much of that music is still a part of your playlists today? How have your musical tastes evolved since?
Before I map out the progression of my musical tastes, I gotta point out that I have 2 older brothers, one is 5 years older and the other is 7 years older, so when I was in elementary school they were well into Middle and High School. So at a really young age I was exposed to a lot of cool music before I even had the cognitive ability to understand what was cool about it. It was also the late 90’s so the aftershocks of NIRVANA were still being felt, and a lot of music that people consider hip/alternative today was still being played on radio and MTV.
The first band I loved when I was in elementary school was the BEASTIE BOYS. I think it was because their music videos were really funny. My brother had a few of their CDs but he didn’t have Paul’s Boutique so either my brother or mom bought that for me when I was in 3rd grade. I was too young to fully understand the lyrical content, but that music was infectious to say the least. So much of my musical DNA begins with that record and to this day it’s one of my favorites. This was also around the same time I started playing guitar. I remember my brothers having NIRVANA, WEEZER, SMASHING PUMPKINS, and GREEN DAY tapes which are all bands I still listen to. I’d like to add this was literal moments before the internet changed the ways of music consumption forever. So I’m glad I got to experience a time when the only way to listen to music besides MTV and radio was from an actual physical medium.
Middle school was definitely a musical growing pains era, but I became obsessed with METALLICA which really motivated me to be better at guitar. I listened to a lot of Nu Metal and Butt Rock around this time, but eventually discovered more extreme Metal genres and started becoming aware of what was going on in Western Mass at the time. Stuff like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SHADOWS FALL. I also saw HATEBREED around this time which was pretty huge for getting me into Hardcore.
High School was when I started going to local shows and nose dove straight into Hardcore/Punk and all sorts of independent/underground music genres. I remember using p2p file sharing and bit torrents and really just crash coursing on everything.
My tastes have certainly evolved, but I’d say the primary influences for both Maniac & Restraining Order are the bands that made me love Hardcore and Punk from the get go. If you played me Maniac or Restraining Order when I was 15, they probably would have been my favorite bands.
Most memorable show you’ve ever seen? What makes it stand out?
One of the first big Hardcore shows I went to was when GORILLA BISCUITS played the Palladium in Worcester, MA in 2006. I had been going to shows for like 2 years at that point but I had never seen straight forward Hardcore bands play at a giant venue like that. The full lineup was Gorilla Biscuits, COMEBACK KID, MURPHY’S LAW, RIGHTEOUS JAMS, GUNS UP!, SET YOUR GOALS, and THIS IS HELL. I could take or leave half that lineup now, but at the time that was a REALLY stacked and exciting show.
When i was in college, I saw the band FAILURES play a set so fast that I felt like I was watching an event being fast forwarded with my own eyes. I also saw the band CULT RITUAL around that time and that was really intense. The first time I saw the CRO-MAGS in ‘09 was a good one. The AMERICAN NIGHTMARE reunion in Boston was a good one. STOP & THINK reunion in Boston was a good one. INTEGRITY with the Melnicks in Baltimore was a GREAT one.
Is there any band that you’ve always wanted to see live but never had the chance to catch them? Any classic show that you wish you could have experienced?
I’d like to time travel to any of the Greenfield Grange Shows in Western Mass in the early 80’s that the DEEP WOUND guys put on. There’s a bunch of flyers floating around on the internet. CRUCIFIX, SSD, DYS, SIEGE, LAST RIGHTS all played there at one point.
Do you have any controversial/unpopular music related opinions that you would like to defend?
BILLY JOEL sucks and is the Godfather of Supermarket Music.
Do you enjoy live albums? What are some of your favorites? Can you think of a few examples where the live version of a song is better than the studio version?
I used to love live albums as a kid. I think YouTube has spoiled the thrill of live albums, but a few of my favorites are:
Black Flag – Who’s Got The 10 1/2?
Ministry – In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up
Agnostic Front – Live at CBGBs
Sepultura – Under A Pale Grey Sky
Napalm Death – Live Corruption
Suicide – Ghost Riders
Name one or several cover songs where the cover is better than the original? What makes them superior?
The MEAT PUPPETS have grown on me in recent years, but I’ve always held the opinion that NIRVANA’s cover of Plateau absolutely smokes the original.
What albums have been on heavy rotation lately?
The new DRAB MAJESTY is a really pleasant listen. TOMB MOLD put out a really great Death Metal record. I like that it doesn’t sound fake like a lot of modern metal. That new ODD MAN OUT is a really good gym record. I dig GAME from the UK and EYES OF THE LORD’s new records. New ANTAGONIZE kicks ass. Triple B Records kicks ass. I’m basically a cave man and just got Spotify Premium. There’s way too much music on here, I need someone to help me filter what’s good and bad.
What are some up and coming artists that you would recommend?
Two Hardcore bands from Boston I really dig are C4 and EXERTION. The latter just recorded a demo with me. Sounds very THINK I CARE-esque and hard as hell. Really loving this wave of more straight forward Hardcore bands coming out right now. WORN, THE FIGHT, RAW BREED, NOSEBLEED, BE ALL END ALL, RESULT OF CHOICE, DEVIL’S DEN to name a few.
What are you listening to right now, while answering these questions?The hum of my laptop and the sound of my brain imploding as I try and think of my 10 favorite albums of all time.
Is there anything (new album, tour) you would like to promote?
If you’ve made it this far, Maniac just released our War & Insanity 12″ via New Age Records. Restraining Order is about to release our first LP titled This World Is Too Much and it will be available from Triple B Records in October 2019. Check out Gate 4 Studio if you’re an artist looking for recording/mixing/or mastering. Thanks for the interview, this was fun.
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