Blacklisted

There's nothing to say really other than Blacklisted are one of my favourite hardcore bands around at the moment. They recently did a European tour with Rythm to the Madness and George was kind enough to answer my questions.

You guys are currently touring Europe for the first time since you released "Heavier than Heaven, Lonelier than God" in April. I think it's fair to say the record is different to your previous releases (although still plays like a blacklisted record) and you have used a whole number of different sounds on the album; guitar pedal effects, feedback etc. Overall it comes across as a fairly unique sounding hardcore record, would you say then that this is the record you've been looking to make through Blacklisted or did it happen without any sort of pre-planned ideas?

I dont know if its the record Ive been looking to make. We created it in the time we had set to create it. Its what we came up with. Nothing was planned. That record for me is a vibe. Its a time and a place. Now that I am done with it I dont know what to do. I havent listened to it, I play the songs and that is it. Maybe I should be looking forward to making a new record, But who knows if that will even happen. Its kind of disappointing writing records, You put time into them, They come out and that is all its over.


You've said in an interview before that the record "The Beat Goes On…" was done to kind of tour off and keep you guys on the road. You're still known as a band that seems to be constantly touring but did you aim to do more with the latest record?

We just wrote and that is what came out. Like I said above there was no planning, It was just done in the time we had. Looking back I would have loved to do more because also like I said above, Who knows if I will ever get the chance.




Would you say that there is a slight bit of pressure on hardcore bands, especially ones who are fairly big, to make sure that there is something "different" about the way they sound? With there being so many bands around in hardcore and more and more different sounds being replicated I get the feeling that bands nowadays have to evolve much faster in order to survive and keep people interested.

I feel the opposite. To be successful you have to replicate the same sound over and over. Hardcore is a very fickle genre, They do not deal with change very well. However in blacklisteds case, there was no pressure, We are just a band like anyone, It was just another record which too us is another documentation of our lives and the path we have been on for however long we have been doing this band.


I was wondering if I could ask about some of the lyrics on your last couple of records. Especially over the last couple of records the songs seem to deal with a lot of your own personal issues and thoughts. Would you ever feel vulnerable or apprehensive about being so honest in front of what is effectively a crowd of thousands?

I feel vulnerable everyday. While creating each record I have been really apprehensive. I find myself arguing with myself throughout the whole creation of the record. I love hardcore. It has been great to/for me. But it is a scene made up of all critics, So I hate putting myself out there because its not like people deserve it, They download it, Criticize it until we put out the next record and all the while they are sitting in their parents computer room eating their parents food while I am on the road not even knowing how I am going to eat next. Its a sad world the one where we live in. Where the realest people starve and the most false of people get to watch it from a small screen and give their two cents anytime they feel like it.



The song "Setting Sun" off "Peace on Earth, War on Stage" ends with the line "You're no setting sun, you're no setting sun, please don't pretend to be one…" and I think when I saw you play once you mentioned how it was turning the idea of the song "The needle and the damage done" by Neil Young on its head, suggesting that not every junkie is a sympathetic tragedy. The song seems to be draw a lot from your own experience of people and drugs, do you hold this view for all junkies or is it specific to someone in your life?

I dont hold that view. That song was written with alot of anger. I wish I would have thought about it more, But I was just so frustrated I put it all out there. I know that in this life there is no such thing as a person who can not be saved, So if that is going on in you or anyone you knows life be there for them. That is all you can do.


You re-recorded a couple of songs off of that 7" and I wanted to ask in particular about "Memory Layne". On the "Peace on Earth…" version it ends with the line "How do you rise when all you know is the downside?" but on the full-length version you seem to reiterate "cause all I know is the downside" . Was there any reason in particular for the adjustment?

We wrote those songs fairly quickly the first time around, So after playing them for a year or so we decided to re record them so they could be recorded more along the lines of how we were playing them live. I liked that line at the end I thought it was a great way to get my point across. Im glad I got to re do it.


When Blacklisted play you often declare "I love you all.." or something similar to the crowd and in other interviews of yours I have read you've signed off with something like "take care of each other". Although this doesn't seem too extraordinary, it marks a slight difference from many bands who only seem to be able to focus on or express hate. Do you think that sometimes the angst of hardcore can sometimes be directed more within itself that towards the outside? I have read that you feel people are often too negative towards each other behind a computer screen, on a message board etc…

I think hardcore is built on angst and I would never hate on that. But when people are just judgemental for the sake of being judgemental I find it pathetic. Especially when they are judgemental on people that are really out there putting it on the line while they sit at home and do nothing. However I wish that everyone would take care of themselves and those around them. Because these people around us. That is all we really have in the world, Your whole life is based on the relationships you have. Its a cold life to live when you have no one. I guess I just hope people realize that and try to reach out to each other. Make a connection..


www.myspace.com/blacklisted

www.imwithblacklisted.blogspot.com