In Ruins Interview w/ Scott & David

Scott: We’ve been playing punk music together since we were 13 and I think it was just our natural progression as punk musicians that drew us to play heavier and more powerful music. It was saying exactly what I wanted to say lyrically and it just gets my blood boiling more so than what we were doing. I also feel like we are easily put into the crust category because we do play heavy, but to me we are still just a hardcore punk band.

David: Yeah, it really was just a natural progression. Scott, Taylor, and I all played in a hardcore punk band when we were younger and we started to play crustier stuff before even knowing what crust was. The last release we did with that band sounds a lot like a premature In Ruins. We just play what we want to hear from a band.

Scott: I think it might have been better a couple years before we started the band in ’09. There’s a big trend in raw noise punk coming up in the US now and some of it rules but some is pure shit. I even play in a couple raw punk bands but it seems like punk music with any sort of production isn’t cool enough to listen to anymore. I could be wrong, but it’s just the vibe I’ve been noticing. Maybe we haven’t been to the towns where it’s still going strong. We’ll see after our tour this summer I guess.

David: I’ve had a hard time finding American crust bands that I’m really into lately. There’s a few, but not much is hitting me in any kind of significant way lately. Music goes through phases, hits up and downs, and I think crust is somewhere in the middle right now. Its not thriving and it isn’t dying either. We’re pretty much the only crust band in Atlanta and I think we’re in the wrong city for our style of music. I always say that we’re too metal for the punk kids here and too punk for the metal kids here. I’d like to see what other places think.

Scott: I’ve never heard of them.

David: Me neither.

Scot: Lifeless focuses on different aspects in most of the songs but there is a common theme related throughout the album. It seems that the value of human life is worth nothing to people anymore, not even their own. The human race is so willing to sell themselves to a higher force or power to the point where they don’t even have control over what they do or what’s right and wrong. We let a government that we elect send our young ones off to war to fight only for the leaders of the world and their hidden agendas. We let money and the lure of success dictate who we are and who we will fuck over. We completely rape the earth and diminish all of its beauty. We see the end approaching yet we do nothing to stop it because we are afraid to throw away the chains that comfort us. It’s nearly impossible to change the world, but it’s completely possible to change yourself.

David: Ah that’s a tough question. I’d probably choose “In Death.” That is the oldest song on the record and I’ve just gotten burned out on it. Overall, I don’t think it hits as hard as the other songs, and the outro is too long. Maybe “In Search of Something More” since it is just an instrumental interlude, but I love interludes on albums at the same time.

Scott: Real hardcore is doing well. We have some bands in Atlanta such as Bukkake Boys, Manic, and Ralph, they all fucking rule. Floor punching/tough guy hardcore that is stealing the hardcore culture is terrible and I hope it disappears soon.

David: I feel the same. There’s some good stuff out there, it seems like in Atlanta the hardcore scene is pretty cliquey, most of the time the bands only like playing in more “hip” areas, but more people do come out to those places and you actually get paid so I can’t totally blame them.

Scott: A lot of people like to act like they never listened to a certain band or a type of punk music. I don’t think you should completely reject your past; it’s where you came from. My friends and I busted out an old A Global Threat record the other day and we still enjoyed it.

David: What he said. I’m secretly a juggalo also.

Scott: None, we actually had to rush writing one more song before recording...

David: We scratched some songs while writing, and cut out parts of some songs on the record to make it short enough to fit on vinyl, but didn’t cut any songs that we recorded. We did the whole album in three days, so 9, fairly long songs, was a lot to do in that time.

Scott: I think after our tour I’ll have a better answer to this question. We did an east coast tour last Summer and had decent shows but none were amazing since it was our first tour and we were fairly new. It doesn’t matter where we play locally, it matters what bands we play with... I always like playing with Parasytic when they come through.

David: Since the PS Warehouse closed down in Atlanta, I don’t have a favorite place to play. That place was the best. No questions asked. Last summer I liked Pittsburgh a lot. Really stoked to be hitting Chicago and Minneapolis this summer, as well as Texas. Can't wait to play out of the U.S. either, hopefully people will like our record and help get us overseas.

Scott: David should know this.

David: I live in a house with two other dudes that play in Atl. metal bands, multiple bands actually, and we kind of have the house everyone goes to after shows. Even if there’s not a party there is like 5 different bands that practice here so there is always people over drinking and hanging out. Not too much gets destroyed (there’s not that much to destroy), but there’s always plenty to clean up. A lot of touring bands stay here also, which inevitably leads to partying. The Witchhaven guys were here recently and we took them on these walking trails behind my house that lead to these "ruins" in the woods. We got to the ruins and were drinking some beers when this old dude came up to us completely naked and starting jerking himself off. We were all drunk and truly appalled. It is a really funny story to tell people though, and I'm sure they've been telling it to people in every city they've played since. It didn't make Atlanta look good.