What’s up Seth, thank you for doing this interview! Over the past few years, you have been putting your past projects on Spotify and Youtube. What are some of the underrated gems on each platform?
On Spotify, I’m going to call a lot of my solo music underrated because I’m not sure how to find the right audience for it. The people that like it really love it but it’s not straight up hardcore and there’s also a lot of electronic music that goes in a lot of directions so the average hardcore fan is not usually feeling it. I just don’t know how to market it to get it to the right people but I’m proud of it. In 2013, I put out a solo album called “The World Does Not Exist” and then last year, I re-released it with a bunch of electronic instrumentals I did in the early 2000s in between the songs under the name Seth N’ Violence – Hardcore Fantasy. I am really proud of all of that stuff but it’s mostly unheard.
On Youtube, I put up a lot of band practices of unrecorded music and us just jamming. So many songs go to waste over the years because a band breaks up and songs don’t get recorded or line-ups change. I just wanted people to hear this stuff.
Mike Bulldoze is one of my favorite riff writers and so I put up a tape of our early Homicidal practices with riffs and beats that were never turned into songs. We still hope to use some of them one day.
I was also in another band with Dan One4One called Plan B is Dead, we released a short 5 song demo but we had a lot of practices of the band just jamming and making up stuff that I thought was incredible and needed to be heard, so I put that up.
What type of music are you creating these days? Do you have any new bands in the works, or mostly solo projects?
Right now I am still developing it so I don’t know what it’s going to turn into. I always want to do something completely different from what I have done before but at the same time, old school hardcore is part of my DNA so I also have a bunch of songs that are that and nothing more. For some songs, I have a bunch of riffs and beats and choruses put together but I want to layer them with different sounds but I want to get a new synth first. Getting a new synth with new sounds always gives me new ideas. All my old stuff was recorded with a Korg Triton that I bought in 2000. It was great for its time but it’s outdated. I’ve also been studying classic hip hop albums and learning about sampling and manipulating sounds. Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies by Brian Coleman has a goldmine of information.
I’ve slowly been building a home studio but I haven’t started recording anything yet and won’t until I have all the equipment. Last year, I remixed “Unbreakable” by Homicidal and added all these electronic colors so that could give you an idea of the colors I would like to mix but the new songs will be actual songs with verses and chorus unlike this remix.
I’m also trying to spend a lot more time working on writing lyrics and creating vocal flows. I think that has always been my biggest weakness. I come up with hooks for choruses but then get stuck while trying to write the verses. I’ve been reading a lot looking for inspiration and also spending time on vocabulary.com trying to improve my vocabulary. I have a whole notebook of words and phrases that I just love the sound of that I am hoping to find a way to use in songs without it sounding forced. I’m a big sci-fi and fantasy fan too so I try to make sci-fi sounding music. I am hoping to find good sci-fi books to write a song about. On my last solo album, “Maze of Death” was based on the book A Maze of Death by Philip K Dick. “The World Does Not Exist” started off being based on Old Man’s War by John Scalzi but completely morphed into something else although the original 4 lines remain. “Terror to Forever’s End” is about Zod, Ursa and Non being trapped in the Phantom Zone in Superman. I have a completed song that is based on Stannis Baratheon’s final stand. I recorded a cheap home demo version of it in 2016 but I plan on re-recording that for the new album. I also lifted lyrics straight from the Dhammapada in my song “Immortality.”
When did you get interested in classical music, and how does it inform your writing process? Does having a foundation in music theory also help?
I got heavily into it when I was 18 but I think it was always in my DNA because piano was my first instrument and I’ve been playing my whole life. I was learning how to play a lot of simple classical music before I really got into music as a fan of music. But it was really film music that drew me in. Specifically, I rediscovered Star Wars at 18 and would listen to the soundtrack all the time. And I also had the Clockwork Orange Soundtrack and I loved Rossini’s “Thieving Magpie” and the way the film contrasted it with violence. Then Ren & Stimpy used the same piece in Space Madness and it really made me think about how much I loved the music. There was so much great classical music in Ren & Stimpy that led me on a mission to find out what the music being played was. I started playing piano again right after that. I had for the most part stopped when I started playing drums at 8. Classical music is all about harmony and knowing what works with what. When I write riffs, I don’t really think at all. I just play. But when it comes to putting another riff on top of that or a solo, it’s important to know what key I am in and what will work with it. Also, if I get stuck while writing a song, I can use harmonic progression theory to give me an idea of what key to try next. Even in Homicidal with Mike’s riffs, if we get stuck, I can say to him, try something on this or that fret and that can get us out of a jam
Thank you for being the source of the “cats in the room when the riffs were written” question that I’ve been asking here and am compiling for I Question Not Me #6. What riffs or songs were written when there were cats in the room, and what classic riffs were maybe never written due to cat interference?
You’re welcome. In the room itself, I am not 100% certain. I am pretty sure my cat Wolfgang (2006-2012) was in the room for most of the Plan B is Dead riffs and then the riffs for my 2013 solo album (which were originally Plan B is Dead riffs) but I can’t say for sure. But he couldn’t have been far away so he definitely heard them from outside the room if he wasn’t in it. My cat Stimpy (1993-2006) was most likely in the room for the Fat Nuts Theme Song, and “Setting it Straight” by Fat Nuts and probably “Absence of Sincerity” by 25 ta Life. Also, “Thoughts” by One4One but I hate that song so maybe I shouldn’t mention that one. Stimpy was in the house for a lot though. All my bands practiced in the house so even though he wasn’t in the room, he definitely heard a lot of songs being put together. He would have been there when One4One put Control together, when Rey wrote the first riff for “Stand” (Stimpy would sleep on Rey’s head when he left it at my house), he was there for the first Homicidal jams, he was there when One4One was rushing to put In Search of Together. And he was there when we were putting together some of the Strength Through Unity tracks, specifically the double bass part in “Took My Kindness for Weakness” and the first part of “Make it Work.”
I have probably lost a bunch of riffs forever thanks to when Wolfgang knocked over my digital 8 track in 2007 and I lost everything in it. I had 5 years’ worth of music in there. I wouldn’t have lost any completed songs because I already burned those to CD but definitely a lot of ideas in the works. I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud boom in the living room. I ran in, saw the machine on the floor, Wolfie running away and then I heard clicking coming from the hard drive (which is never a good thing). I took it to a repair shop but everything was lost.
Out of all the bands you’ve played in, which one featured the most cat owners, the most cats, and your favorite cats?
It would be the In Search Of line up of One4One or One Family which was the exact same members minus the one person in One4One that didn’t have a cat. I’m not sure how many cats because I’m not sure how many Dan had. He always had a lot of pets at his mom’s house. Andy, Chris and I had 1 each. My favorite cats are and were Mike Bulldoze’s. I love his cat Daphne and she loves me. She is a super friendly huge gluttonous yellow cat. She is obsessed with my guitar case and every time I go over there, I usually have my guitar. She comes running to the door crying until I put it down and open it for her. It got to the point where I felt like I needed to bring the empty case if I was going over there and we weren’t jamming just because I didn’t want to let her down. I also loved their late cats Norman and Seymour. Seymour was a little slow and would just plop down on your lap and not move. He died in 2014 and that’s when they got Daphne. Norm took a lot longer to warm up to me. He was scared of everyone. But one day after Seymour died, he came and sat on my lap while we were watching Game of Thrones and I was so happy that he finally took the initiative. And then he came to sit with me every week after that. He never came out until the kids went to bed. Unfortunately, he passed right before the pandemic started. They got a new cat named Leela but I only just met her in Feb 2020, and due to the pandemic, I haven’t been over there since then.
Honorable mention also goes to Tomoki’s cat (Homicidal, Hell Brigade) from 2005. I don’t remember the name of the cat but Tomoki lived on 131st street in Harlem on the 2nd floor of a brownstone. The cat would climb out the balcony and be up and down all of the buildings. Sometimes I’d see her outside roaming the streets of Harlem. The cat was a trooper. Doug E Fresh actually lived a few houses away and he had these front steps with these awesome Asian lion gargoyles on the banisters so I always wondered if the cat ever chilled there with the gargoyles and Doug E Fresh.
I also love Andy from One4One’s current cat Gertie (I hope I spelled it right). I never met her but he’s always posting pics and she has a really distinctive “I’m not impressed” face.
I have really enjoyed seeing your kittens on Instagram – how did you decide it was time to get a pet again and how did they come into your life?
I just needed one. I had pets most of my life but I never went looking for one. They were all found on the street. My sister found my dog Lucy down the street from us, my ex found Stimpy in a parking lot and Wolfgang was trapped in the engine of a car in front of my building when I found him. It always felt like destiny so I was just waiting for it to happen again but all of the sudden, 10 years had gone by, and no pets. People were suggesting Petfinder and all these sites but it felt like online dating. I couldn’t tell from a pic whether or not they were right for me. I wanted to meet them and see what kind of connection there was. So, then AWESOM in Stroudsburg said they were getting some kittens in and I went to check them out. They were in a batch of 5 and I really loved how they all had a bond with each other. I wish I could have taken them all. I never had 2 cats at once before except a 2-month period where I lived with my ex but both cats were already old and her cat hated Stimpy. I had a cat and a dog at the same time but Stimpy HATED my dog. He absolutely resented her and treated her like she was a rodent from outside that didn’t belong. He used to look at me like “yo wtf? Why is this thing in the house?” My kittens (Luke and Leia) love each other. They are inseparable. Watching them interact is one of the greatest treasures I have ever had the pleasure to experience. They go on these exploratory missions around the house. They fight. They sleep all over each other and chase each other all around the house. I’m not sure where they are at this moment, but I can guarantee that wherever you find one of them, the other is there too.
When I got the In Effect book last summer I remember noticing your bands were all over the book. What are some of your favorite parts of the book, and your favorite In Effect issues?
I can tell you what my least favorite part of the book was. It was that underhanded dig at the Mets in the foreword. What was up with that? At first, I was like “oh nice. Becky wrote the foreword but then 2 seconds later I was like WTF? Why? Was this really necessary?” Haha.
My favorite parts were the ‘80s issues because I had never seen those before. I had always heard about them but it was all fresh reading. I loved reading the reviews of all these classic recordings as new music. Also loved that it all started with Outburst. My favorite issue during my era was the one that had our Japan tour. That was the best trip I ever went on and to see it documented in the zine like that was an honor. I always looked up to the zine. I was proud just to get a review in there the first time. I always felt In Effect was the official state of the union for our scene and the paragon of what a zine should be. I helped out with interviews for a NJHC zine called God Bless Hardcore. In Effect was the inspiration for it. Its founders Gerry and Tito wanted it to be the NJHC version of In Effect.
How many library cards do you have, and what is your favorite library (in each state where you have lived?)
I actually signed up online yesterday for my new local library here in PA (Western Pocono Community Library). I saw they have curbside pick-up so I can just order the book and pick it up. I haven’t physically been there yet. I guess I still have one for the library in Plainsboro NJ. I did like that one. It was 2 blocks from my house and they had a front and back door so I would walk through it on my way home from local stores. They always sold used books for like $2-$3 and I would just buy a bunch and save them for a rainy day. About 5 years ago, I picked up Magic and Mystery in Tibet by Alexandra David-Neel on one of those walk throughs and I just finally read it a couple of months ago.The timing was perfect because reading about the ascetics in the mountains was exactly what I needed at this point in time and since then, I’ve really been embracing the isolation and solitude of being up here in the mountains during a pandemic. Plainsboro was the only library I used in NJ.
In New York, I really loved the library at College of Staten Island. I still lived at home when I was in college so I used to go there all the time just for the quiet but they also had a really great selection. They had everything I needed for all my research papers. They had the scores for almost every major classical piece. They also had records you could go listen to with headphones in a silent room (this was pre-mp3). And when I was taking History of Opera, they had all the operas we had to watch for class so I could go in there and watch with headphones.
What is your favorite baseball book or movie?
Book would be Big Sexy: In His Own Words by Bartolo Colon which was co-authored by Michael Stahl. Michael Stahl is the guy that wrote the article The Last Time New York was Hardcore for Narratively. So it was awesome to see the book was by a hardcore kid. Plus it was a great book.
Movie would probably be either A League of Their Own (the original) or 42. It’s hard to compare a comedy to a serious historical film. The part in A League of Their Own where the letter comes from overseas with the death notice always stuck with me. I really want to see a period movie that centers around New York Baseball in the 1880s. You have the start of the Dodgers and the Giants and also the first World Series ever with the original New York Metropolitans at the Polo Grounds in 1884. Someone please make that!
What is the most significant baseball moment that occurred while you were at a hardcore show?
I was at CBGB’s for Bulldoze and Death Threat when the Angels beat the Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series. The game was on at the TV by the door and I kept going to check on it. I was disappointed. I was going for the Giants. My family was NY Giants fans before the 1969 World Series so they are my #2 team.
How do you like living in PA, and what are some of your favorite vegan spots you have found since moving out there?
I love it for the most part but the food is definitely a problem. I’m up in a rural mountain town and there are no vegan spots. The closest thing is a vegan bakery about 35-40 min away. There are places that advertise having “vegan options” but then you look at the menu and it’s literally just a bowl of fruit and a salad. So I have to settle for supermarket food. I just love the peace and quiet up here. I love the scenery. I love seeing no people and nothing but trees when I go for a drive. There are a bunch of trails I want to check out but I’m waiting for the fall. I don’t fuck with summer. I think I will check out some winter stuff like skiing and snow tubing because it’s all right by my house. I’ve never done any of that stuff before.
Who is your favorite PAHC band, and the most underrated bands from NY, NJ and PA?
Wisdom in Chains for sure. They have a deep catalog now. I don’t think anyone can compare. I love Punishment too. I would listen to them at the gym all the time. “1000 Daggers” makes me want to kill people. I’m not really up on current bands but I still think the most underrated bands are the first wave of NYHC when all the focus was still on DC, Boston and Cali. The bands that had long careers like AF and Reagan Youth obviously get all their due recognition but I love bands like the Abused, the Mad, XKI, Ultra Violence, The Stimulators and in NJ, Even Worse and Adrenaline OD. The last show I went to was Darkside NYC at A7 (Niagara Bar) and they played “I Hate Music” by the Mad, which is one of my favorite songs of all time but I think I was the only person there that actually knew it. That’s the beginning of it all.
When Wreak Havoc passed in 2020, you posted some early Homicidal songs with him on vocals. Tell me about the early days of Homicidal and how did you end up with the permanent lineup?
I don’t think we really ever had a permanent line up. There was a steady line up between 2008-2019 but I wasn’t in that except for when I would fill in for whoever couldn’t make it. It started off with me showing Zack some riffs I wrote in the summer of 2001 and he was like “yo you gotta get together with Mike. You guys are on the same shit.” So, me and Mike started jamming with me on guitar. Then 9/11 happened and things kind of fell apart for a while. We also didn’t really want to go too far without a drummer anyway but finally in 2003, I caved in and said I would play drums. I had also been talking to Frank from NJBL for a while about doing something and both Mike and Frank already had Brian the kid on board for both projects so I just combined everything. First, we had Junior from Heidnik Stew (currently in The Way Of) on vocals but that only lasted a few weeks so then we got Wreak. We already had the music for the 2004 demo when Wreak joined and he pretty much wrote the vocals on the spot in the studio. He was great at writing lyrics quickly. No one did it better. But we only had 3 songs so we weren’t ready for a show yet. Wreak left in the fall and that’s when we got McG and recorded the 2005 demo in Jan/Feb. We played just 1 show with that lineup and Brian and Frank were replaced by Rodney and Tomoki. That’s the lineup of the 2006 Live at CBGB’s recording. And then I was out of the band and replaced by Dimi. There were a few more changes before the State of Mind lineup of Mike Bulldoze, Dimi, McG, Mike H and Zack. Then Mike H left in 2019 and I replaced him on bass. We played 2 shows in 2019 but right now we are inactive.
Along with being an official member of One4One, Fat Nuts, 25 Ta Life, Homicidal etc, you have filled in for other bands like Terror Zone. How many different instruments have you played onstage, and what’s the least amount of notice you had to get on stage and fill in for a band?
I’ve sang, played guitar, drums, bass and piano on stage although piano obviously wasn’t at a hardcore show. I had 2 minutes to prepare to play for NJ Bloodline. I can tell you the story or you can hear it for yourself here at 12:50:
Also, the first time I played for Bulldoze was at the BNB Bowl in 2008. I went there specifically to see the OG lineup of Breakdown. I hadn’t seen Breakdown at all since the ‘90s and never the OG lineup. That was really all I cared about. After Fahrenheit 451, Mike came up to me and was like “wanna play drums for Bulldoze?” and I was like “when?” and he was like “now” and I was like “I haven’t played drums in almost a year” and he was like “so what. Come on.” And so we went backstage and went over the songs for 30 minutes acoustically with me tapping on my legs. I had played “The Truth” with Homicidal before (but not in over 2 years) but I never played “Beatdown.” I was nervous the whole time because the first time I was gonna actually play the song on a set was live at the busiest time of the night in between Terror and Madball and with cameras on me. It was a surprise set. No one in the crowd knew it was going to happen. Mike didn’t even play because we didn’t have a lefty guitar to use so we did it with just 1 guitar. For the most part, I pulled it off but I did fuck up once in Beatdown. I wound up missing Breakdown because they played while I was learning the songs. I had to wait for the DVD.
Thank you for doing this – and anything else you’d like to cover?
I would just like to thank you for doing this. It is greatly appreciated.
And I’m also gonna shamelessly plug my YouTube and Spotify pages. Everything released on Spotify is also on all the major streaming sites such as iTunes and Amazon Music.
