CHANGES FANZINE #2 was supposed to be printed too long ago, but I kept procrastinating, waiting for answers to interviews that never came back, so I decided that I wanted to start again, with all new interviews to make #2 the best it can be. But I didn't want to just throw away interviews that I, after all, am very happy with, so I made an ezine and this is it. First interview: Justice.
Justice was one of the best bands in current hardcore, and the news that they were going to call it quits was not a nice surprise, and I wanted to hear their take on why they wanted to end the band, what was going to happen now, and what made their time in Justice special, so here it goes, Filip was kind enough to answer my questions.
So, why end the band? Why now?
I'm gonna keep it short. It was a personal decision, I made the call and disappointed others. I just can't do a band anymore. I want to do other things just chillin.
I've heard that there's a new LP being released at your last show. Any details about it you can let us in on? What can we expect, soundwise, is it a further development of the sound you had on Escapades or is it taking steps to a whole new direction?
We're busy demoing songs for that record and I'm so into them, our best stuff we ever worked on. It's different then Escapades, harder but still groovy. All of us are really amped on it and we're all working hard to get the best out of it. It's gonna be a 12" EP called "And Beyond" (Live and Learn ed.). And yeah, it's gonna be released on our last show. True Colors will also release their new record at that show.
It's fair to say that you're one of the biggest current hardcore bands, with kids being into your stuff all over the globe, but I don't think I've seen any current band get so much slack for just doing their own thing. Do you follow what's being written on messageboards and such?
It's hard to avoid it. It's weird that we bother so many people, we just do/did what we love. We just wrote our songs, did whatever felt right. We could have written the same records over and over again, we could have gone for the same shit everybody does but we didn't. But while others were talking their shit on boards we were travelling the world, meeting people, poolhopping, raging malls, moshing to Dead Stop and Mental, loving the Bad Brains so we win, they lose!
When you started out, did you have an agenda with stuff you wanted to do before the band was done? If so, did you reach all the goals you set?
We didn't had any goals, we just took it one step at a time. We even said we didn't want to play out that much, now we played over 400 shows. Maybe we just wanted to play our favourite venue at first, after we did that it all kept on comin, like releasing a 7", touring in general, touring the USA, recording an LP. It's crazy where this band took me, all over the world, met so many great people, made friends for life. The thing I value most is the friendship with my bandmates we've been hanging out a lot the last couple of weeks and they're probably the only dudes I could have done this band with.
What was it like to record with Don Fury? I guess he had some cool stories to tell. How did you come up with the idea of recording with him?
Fury recorded most of my favourite bands so it was pretty obvious that I was into recording with Don Fury. Stief had the same idea and there you go, simple as that. Don Fury had a couple of cool stories but I think he forgot the most of it, he's kinda out of his mind.
So you've been doing Justice, Loud and Clear, Powered records, booking tours, and I know some of you do fanzines as well. Is there any time left for a job? With Justice's busy tour schedule and Powered releasing records on a regular basis it must be hard.
Now there is time, it was hard to combine these things when we were touring but never really thought about it. We did what we felt was right, touring and not going to work was what felt right.
Now that Justice is at its end. Are there any new bands or projects that are waiting to take off? Will you play more with Loud and Clear now? or maybe start a new band?
I'm not gonna be in bands anymore, LAC will play a couple of shows but March 8 is gonna be the last time I get up on a stage.
You've been to Sweden.. well, a handful of times at least. I think I've been able to catch you four-five times or something like that. You must enjoy being here, even though our hardcore scene may not be at it's peak. What makes you come back here time after time? Or is it just co-incidental?
I don't know, we played wherever we could play. I love Scandinavia in general, of all European countries it reminds me the most of Belgium.
If I was going to collect all Justice records and shirts, what would be the hardest for me to get? Any crew shirts, or "band only"?
Ask Klaas, Rhythm To The Madness singer, he has all our shirts. I think that the Mental/Justice Road Crew shirt is very hard to come by, also the infra red crewneck(only for the band plus roadies) is also very rare.
You and Dead Stop made a huge impact on the Belgian (and European) hardcore scene. In 2004-2005 me and my friends talked a lot about your scene and how amazing it seemed, and how new great bands were popping up everywhere. What was it like to be a part of something like that? and did you notice any difference between your scene and the scene here in Sweden, where we've got some good bands, but no real supporting scene. Do kids in Belgium have a different mindset and take more pride in their local bands?
It was the time of my life, every weekend we saw bands like Dead Stop, Restless Youth play crowds who went out of their minds, thank god people were into us to. We were very supportive of our own scene and it was striking that our own bands got a better reaction then any touring US band. It was the opposite way before that. Every show there was a new zine it was a very interesting time. I think that you force those things, it all just happens the right bands, the right time.
How would you say that your time in Justice has changed you as a person, if it has, that is? And in 10, or even 20 years, what do you think will be your fondest memory of Justice?
I kinda grew up with Justice, me and Stief we're just mindless idiots and we still are in a lot of ways but we know how to do stuff, we're focused when it comes down to getting things together, chasing your dreams. My fondest memories are definitely all the tours we did, all the travelling. Waking up in van filled with your best friends, driving to a show. I also love getting siked about new songs, new shirts etc.
From day one, you've done everything totally DIY, booked your own tours, released your own records etc. Do you think bands today are to caught up with getting on the right labels, when they could just do it themselves instead? Is there anything negative about the way you've done everything by yourselves? I mean it must cause a lot of stress sometimes, when there's money involved and all.
I think that a lot of bands are just lazy. Almost every day a lame band send me a msg on the Powered myspace to check their profile cuz they're looking for a label. Give me a fucking break. Why should I bother bands who donít bother doing a decent demo or something. DIY often gets linked with half assed releases, fuck that, when you do something, do it good. If you plan things, make sure you got everything settled there are no negative things, it just takes a lot of time. While most bands can do whatever they want we were working our ass of but what really matters to me that everything we got we earned.
I'm all out of questions now, so is there anything you'd like to add? Thanks for taking the time to answer this!
Thank you for doing this interview, we both love Floorpunch that makes us friends!
Justice R.I.P.
