paulbarfo@aol.com
What year did GS get together and how?
GS got together in 1991 . I was always kicked out or not welcomed to play in any local high school bands at the time because oh many reasons probably the main one was I wasn't trying to play what was considered cool at the time. I was into death metal and grindcore punk and everyone was covering Misfits and Metallica. So I told my brother Danny who was the drummer in a few local bands to start a two man bass drum grind band influenced by Napalm Death , Doom , and Ruins.
When did you guy have your first release and first show?
Our first release was the Cathy Ames split 7inch in 1996 . Our first show was at the Cupertino library if I remember it was a riot grrl show that we crashed around May of 1996.
That's awesome! whats been your favorite show that you guys played?
hard to say , we enjoy basement and house shows than venue gigs any day.
Background story on the Saturday morning powerviolence 7"?
Background story on SMPV. It was recorded in one day at House of Faith studios in Oakland. We got followed by the cops for couple of miles before we got to the studio . All the songs were recorded on one take and made up on the spot . It was our first studio recording which I was never really happy with ( we recorded in two seperate sound rooms so it was really hard to get the timing right). We had some strict guidelines to follow regarding the cover art for Slap a ham records ie. no dead bodies , really gory bad stuff etc.. so it was a real challenge to find something to use as artwork or even a name for the record. So one day I saw a photo of Puff n stuff ( old 70's British kids show) and decided that look really harmless , stupid and silly and a complete antithesis to all the really ultra violent power violence sleeve covers out there. And saw a old article about Saturday morning cartoon violence being really violent for kids so I just put power in between Saturday morning and violence and presto - a really dumb looking cover that isn't extreme looking but fits Slap a ham guidelines for art sleeves.
Can you tell us younger punks how it was in the 90's in terms of bands, networking, shows and fiesta grande?!
In the 90's you had to travel to the city to find a underground punk record store that sold grind or powerviolence records or even a MRR to find ad's to order the records from since the net was still in its infancy , only few people had computers much less internet access. We had Book your own fucking life which was the annual book released by MRR to help bands , record labels , zines etc.. establish a network and it really created a community of friends to help each other. Getting shows in Knights of Columbus halls, library basements , bowling alleys etc. was easy but then the kids fucked it up .People ask me from watching the old powerviolence band videos on youtube why no one moshed or pitted, well you have to understand the underground DIY punk scene in the 90's was really PC. It was frowned upon to slam dance , mosh , say certain words , drink , do drugs , etc... Fiesta grande was fun , imagine a fest that by a label that specializes in a form of hardcore that is fast , noisy and aggressive and all the bands on the label or not traveled from everywhere to play . It was a festive atmosphere and Fiesta grande really symbolized a era of DIY hardcore that had nothing to do with tough guy shit.
On the inside of Saturday morning powerviolence 7" it said you wanted to piss off people that hated the term powerviolence.what happened there?
Nothing really. No one cared.
How did you get asked to work with Chris and slap a ham? how was it like?
Well Chris Dodge contacted us about doing the ep. I sent him a The Barfos demo tape about 1995 to see if he liked to put out a noisecore anti shit record which never happended . But he heard either the Cathy Ames or Misanthropist or 625 prod. 7inch and liked what he heard so he offered us a record release which I was very honored and happy to receive because I never thought we'd ever be on Slap a ham because I dunno , I thought we weren't Slap a ham sounding enough to be on the label but still I wasn't sure to do it . Ya I was hesistant at first because we wanted to do zero studio recordings since all the early stuff was just raw DIY recorded in my bedroom and was comfortable that way but Max Ward nudged me a bit saying that we should accept this paid studio time and 20 percent cut offer from Chris so we did.
Whats GS working on now?
right now we are writing new songs , just being aware , supporting touring bands just helping our friends out. We have shit load of splits to release but you know things occur in life that we have no control over and those occurances become priorities so you just take one thing at a time.
How did the radio battle / split with in disgust come about?
Well I used to be a staff member at KFJC 89.7 fm radio at my Ala mater Foothill college and I brought it up to In Disgust that we should do a live mic on air just for fun and brought it up to the Station programmer and it was cool . It wasn't really a radio battle we just call it versus because it sounds like a battle but we just thought it be a fun live mic to do and from there Jose wanted to release the recording as a split. Its not really a split its more a live radio show transfered to vinyl.
Do you see any differences in the hc/punk scene from the 90s to now?
Well ya the differences are now kids are more receptive to heavy sounding music than in the 90's when the scene was mixed yet very fragmented and narrow minded because of cliques and scene politics plus the soft pop emo stuff crowd attitude was very popular so that crept into the DIY heavy extreme scene as well which did affect the crowds attitude because they realized the other stepping stone to success in their musical careers was mixing soft stuff with extreme stuff , the bookers and labels decision to release or book certain bands due to popularity , money, which in hindsight did affect the attitude of what punk was being defined at the time . Its still very clique now but it seems kids have been more open to new sounds or even bringing back band sounds that are obscure but thats on a DIY level . Its always changing , progressing or regressing. I mean you have the social networking on the internet which has changed how the punk scene is as well when before it was all word of mouth and the kids looked high and low for info on bands , shows and records.
Any los angeles shows in the future?
Not really sure at this moment. We are skeptical about playing L.A. since last year when that hillside house show in East LA. was crashed early by the pigs.That was the third show to not happen for us in L.A. so we are burnt on getting fucked over by promoters who don't have their shit together or rip bands off.
Any other projects you guys are in?
well I was doing Plague hoarder which was a experimental folk doom noise band with Phil who was in Tolteca extra and that ended pretty quickly with only a demo cd and two shows. Theres songs on youtube . Then there was Failed Species AKA MAD AS HELL AKA DOG with James of Human waste and Dos Amigos which is on hiatus after one show and one crude demo recording. Danny's too busy for musical projects right now
Current and past bands you support?
we support ACXDC , In Disgust , Uzi suicide , Hostile takeover , Bizarre X, Scaphe, Burning Monk, Lie Still , The Misanthropists , Uttered Bastard , Cathy Ames , Magrudergrind , Sete star sept , Wake the machines , Your enemy , Thousands will die , Noothgrush , Calm ,Brain oil , Daybreak , Spazz , Agents of Satan , Slobber , Sockeye, He who corrupts, Tersunjung 13 , Vile intent , Iron lung , Dhoom , Blue sabbath Black cheer , I'm just trying to remember names off the top of my head.
I think that's it Paul, thank you. last words?
Thanks Alex . Ya man support DIY punk thrash , friends before profits , keeping it real with all the homies all over the globe , they all know who they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment