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Pulling Teeth

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E-mail interview done 16.10.2008 with Mike, Pulling Teeth's singer

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rose Lukas and myself had the chance to witness two shows of Baltimore hardcore band PULLING TEETH at this year’s Ieperfest, in Belgium. The fierceness and the intensity of those shows made us want to know more about this tremendous band. The interview was done in October 2008. Enjoy the reading !

Hi ! How and who are you ? And can you also tell us how PULLING TEETH get started ?
I'm doing well, thanks for asking. My name is Mike. I yell into the microphone for PULLING TEETH. The band came together when Chris and Danny met in an online support group for bedwetters and instantly bonded over their shared love for NOFX and getting high. Chris asked Dom and I if we would be interested since we were the wisest of the old guard in the Baltimore scene and had a deep love and respect for all things heavy and hardcore from the 90s; things like DEADGUY, Scorched Earth Records, Vic DiCara, BURN, ALL OUT WAR, and Anxiety Closet fanzine. Alex joined up when he accidentally wandered into our practice space looking for a political hip-hop convention.

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When and how did you discover hardcore ? What attracted you so much back then?
I got into this music and this scene in the early 90s when I met a kid that skateboarded in a class in high school. We became friends and I started skating with him and his friends. We'd take trips to NYC and Philadelphia on the weekends and listen to mixtapes full of bands like SNAPCASE, EARTH CRISIS, 108, MOUTHPIECE, SHELTER, STRIFE, SOULSTICE, BLACK TRAIN JACK, and ORANGE 9MM. I started going to shows around New Jersey with them and with other high school friends that were into heavy underground music of the time like TOOL, TYPE O NEGATIVE, and LIFE OF AGONY. The things that attracted me most to this music were the energy, passion, and honesty of the people in the bands and the people that made up the audience. Also, the fact that there was little to no separation between those on stage and those watching the bands was quite remarkable to me. Everyone was in it together and for the same reasons. At the time, a lot of band members would talk during their sets about the things they sang about, or the state of the scene, or the world in general and that quite impressed me as well. There was a real effort to connect the performers to the audience. I feel like a little bit of that has been lost over the years, but I'm doing my best to maintain that aspect of it.

What could possibly compromise your investment within the hardcore punk scene? Do you consider yourself to be a die hard scenester?
I'm 32 now so I've been into this for half my life now. I still go to a few shows a week, I still cart my distro around to shows, I'm doing a zine and two labels, and I still check out new bands all the time. It's pretty safe to say I'm not going anywhere any time soon. I often wonder if it's possible to still be into this at 40 or 50. People like Bob Suren of Burrito Records / Sound Idea Distribution, Felix Havoc, the guys in MDC, and many others are staying active as they push or pass 40, so who's to say I won't? Even when I don't feel comfortable standing in a crowded and sweaty basement I imagine I'll still be active with the zine and the labels. I live for music.

You come from Baltimore, right? What makes a great city to live in? And how is the scene like over there?
I love Baltimore. It's a really affordable city to live in so it makes it easy to spend time and money on creative endeavors. There are loads of venues for all types of music and that has helped to sustain a healthy scene. There are two great independent record stores that focus on underground punk, hardcore, metal, and indie. More and more kids are coming out to shows and there are some great bands carrying the banner for DIY music in this city. Some of my favorites are RUINER, TRAPPED UNDER ICE, DEEP SLEEP, DEAD MECHANICAL, DOUBLE DAGGER, SICK SICK BIRDS, and BRICK. Bands like STOUT, BLIND THE THIEF, ALARMED, DEAD END BOYS, and BAD HABIT are also working hard to get themselves out into the world.

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I've noticed in many reviews that you're often compared to INTEGRITY, RINGWORM and the likes. Are you, as a band, connected to the whole Holy Terror thing? What do you think of the latter?
Our music is certainly influenced by the Holy Terror/Cleveland sound, but we try to add some other sounds to the mix to hopefully create something somewhat original and interesting. It seems that with the recent resurgence in popularity of those bands a little sub-scene has developed to cater to those interests. It bums me out a little bit because I feel like we should be doing more to break down walls and less to build them up. When Dwid developed the Holy Terror idea in the early days of INTEGRITY it was incredibly creative and interesting, and I feel like a lot of that has been bastardized by a lot of mediocre bands just looking to get some attention by attaching themselves to this entity. We are a hardcore/punk band. Fuck the sub-labels.

You seem to tour a lot these days! What are your resources when you're on the road? In other words, how do you get to avoid conflicts and nervous breakdowns when you're all stuck in a small smelly van for such long periods of time?
We've all been in touring bands before so we're quite used to the rigors of the road. On long drives you can find us all in our own little worlds glued to a book or plugged into our headphones. We're pretty good about giving each other their space when needed. It's natural that tensions will rise from time to time but no blow up has ever caused a serious rift in our relationships. We're usually able to laugh about it a few hours later. Our brains are constantly going on overdrive, so the van is usually where we come up with our most brilliant and most idiotic ideas.

How come that you released your first record on Chainsaw Safety Records and the second one on Deathwish Records, whereas Dom, PT's guitar player, owns his own record label, which is A389 Records?
Except for things like discographies, A389 Records is primarily a vinyl-only label. Dom and I are big record nerds and we have a great appreciation for vinyl so it was originally planned that « Vicious Skin » would just come out as the 10", but then our friend Will at Chainsaw Safety expressed interest in releasing the CD version of it and we couldn't be happier to have him involved. Will is one of our favorite people in the world and it's great to have his support. A389 Records will handle the vinyl versions of all of our LPs and EPs.

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Your record artwork was done by Jeff Beckman, what can you tell us about him? Did you have specific ideas for the artwork or did Beckman come up with it? And is the contrast between the dark characteristic of the drawings and the wide range of colors deliberate?
Jeff has played in many of our favorite bands like CHOKEHOLD, LEFT FOR DEAD, and HAYMAKER. He is currently a tattoo artist in Hamilton, Ontario, near Toronto. Dom has known him for a long time and he did the album art for both of the SLUMLORDS LPs so we knew his talents well. The only direction that we gave Jeff was to give him some ideas of what the lyrical content of the records were about and let him run with his own ideas. We have been very happy with all of the artwork he has done for us and will be having him create the art for the upcoming « Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions » record as well. You'd have to ask Jeff any questions about how he developed his style.

So, there is a split 12 '' in the works with IRONS, have you already heard their stuff? Is it what we're all anticipating from the Hellion/Bannon/Kasner combo? Will your side of the record hold its own (joking)?
As of yet, we have not heard their side. Both groups are working on their material currently and will be recording in the next month or so. I can't imagine their side will be anything less than impressive. Expect gloomy epicness from both bands.

Have you ever gotten into trouble, say crossing borders or such, because of the artwork of your records and shirts? I imagine that the « God Free Youth » shirts (done by Spoiler) would piss people off in the bible belt part of the US?
I'd imagine they might as well but so far we have not had any incidents like that pertaining to our shirts or lyrics. Every now and then I will be asked about my beliefs by curious people but it doesn't happen nearly as often as I originally thought it would. I guess my lyrics are pretty straightforward so there is not a lot of room left for interpretation. I've heard about the occasional story of someone getting into a verbal altercation because of one of our shirts, but it's pretty rare. I like to think that people are open-minded enough to accept that others are going to have differing opinions and viewpoints on things and that is part of what makes this world so interesting.

What I liked from the start about PULLING TEETH is that you are outspoken about things like vegetarianism/veganism, but you still hold a strong atheist stance. Do you believe it's important to be atheist in today's world? Is it important for bands to promote it?
Just be who you are. I don't think that we "promote" atheism as much as we promote vegetarianism or unity despite our differences or caring about the world we live in. I am who I am and that's all that I can be. I consider myself to be 99.9% atheist and 0.1% agnostic, because the fact is that none of us knows what happens when we die, so let's stop telling others how to live their lives and just lead by example. I believe that faith is a very personal thing and should be kept that way. I believe things when I can see them, and touch them, and feel them inside and outside. I know that love exists because I feel it with my entire being. I've never felt faith for a supreme being. It's just not me. That, coupled with the fact that I think that organized religion has been the cause of far more evil than good in this world, is why I say the things I say. I write about the things that anger me and I use the band as a means to communicate my anger and release it. When I see people being denied their basic human rights, or the rights that others are afforded, because of religious ideologies I speak out about it. When I see wars being started because people have differences in faith I speak out about it. When my government tells me or my loved ones or those that can't defend themselves how they can and can not live because of the direct influence of organized religion I speak out about it. Those are my feelings on the subject, and I welcome any and all discourse on the matter.

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What are your thoughts on the upcoming presidential election?
I think it's pretty incredible that we could have our first non-white president in the history of this country. I never thought that I'd get to see that in my lifetime, but it just might happen in a few months. That's kind of amazing. Beyond that, I think it's pretty much politics as usual. A lot of 'he said this and he said that'. A lot of talk about promises, but not a lot of talk about how they plan to follow through and make those things happen. We're still stuck in this system where only two parties can have any chance of getting into that office and I think that's a bit absurd. Democracy and capitalism are supposed to be so great because we're able to have all of these choices but so few people have any interest in making those thoughtful decisions and would rather let others choose for them. It's a bit frustrating.

Have you read any good books lately? Have you got any tips for our readership?
I don't have a lot of time at home to read so I do most of my reading in the van on tour. The last books that I read that I really enjoyed were « You Idiot » by Nate Gangelhoff, which is a collection of his zine writings. Very witty. I read the REPLACEMENTS book, which is a cool oral history on the band. I also read a book on Mythology, mostly Greek, but some Roman and Norse as well. Mostly just light and entertaining reading on this tour.

Can you give us your top 5 records of all time?
This changes constantly, but right now I'd say
GORILLA BISCUITS - Start Today,
AVAIL - 4AM Friday,
BAD BRAINS - ROIR sessions,
MINOR THREAT - Complete Discography, and
DESCENDENTS - Milo Goes To College.

Would you like to add any comments?
Thanks a lot for the interview ! Go start your own band, zine, label, or other creative project ! Be heard ! Stay active ! Don't give up !

Interview : Bastien, Lukas

Plus d'infos :

Label : Deathwish Inc. et Chainsaw Safety Records

MySpace : www.myspace.com/pullingteethmd

Site Web : Pas de site

Site du label: www.deathwishinc.com et www.chainsawsafetyrecords.com


Interview cliquée : 20256 fois



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