REFUSE RESIST
by DJ Matthew Griffin
Refuse
Resist is one of the newer additions to Boston hardcore/punk. Even
though they have only been around for two years, they have played
countless shows, many with their influences like the Business, Leftover
Crack, the Casualties and more, and are on their second record deal.
The first album, Mind: Yourself, was released on local punk
label Rodent Popsicle Records and had some fan-favorite songs like
“Still In Massachusetts.” Their second deal is with the newly revived
Thorp Records. Thorp is a hardcore label that has put out such bands as
Slapshot, Blood for Blood, Madball and Discipline. It’s no surprise
that they will be working with Refuse Resist—all of the bands I just
listed are major influences of theirs. You
may see a pattern with the bands they play with and the labels they
work with. Refuse Resist is on a mission to bring back the sound of
yesteryear while tackling the topics of today. If you enjoy the sounds
of ’80s hardcore and punk groups like Minor Threat, Black Flag, and the
aforementioned Slapshot, you are missing out if you have not seen
Refuse Resist play yet. They put on an amazing live show and are always
full of energy.
Be on the lookout in early 2010 for their Thorp debut, Socialized.
Where Shawn and the gang hit on topics like social networking leading
to the desensitization of the kids these days, the loss of family and
friends, and the current credit problems of the U.S. today. They are
not just punk or hardcore. Refuse Resist definitely plays both.
Noise: You guys have a great old-school sound. How did you guys come together as a band? What’s your history?
Shawn: Mike,
John, and then-bassist Nick started to jam in John’s garage and put up
ads everywhere looking for a singer. I had been out of music since the
’90s when I went to school and started my career as a designer. I got
the music bug big time, and had to get back into playing out. After
about a year of looking, I stumbled upon an ad on MySpace: “Band
looking for singer, into ’80s hardcore and punk.” I replied, went up
there in a rental car; I didn’t have a car at the time. When we met, we
all clicked. We knew there was something there. It was great to meet
these guys. This is their first band, so they are not jaded. They
didn’t sound like the standard Boston street punk thing that everyone
has going right now. We all have the same vision: take the parts of the
music we grew up on and play as hard and fast as we can.
As
far as our bass curse, Nick was a great guy and we had a ton of fun
with him, but there were commitment issues, so we searched for another
bass player who could be there. We then found Brendan White, and he was
awesome to hang out with and a good fit in the band. But again, there
were commitment issues. He is a different place in his life and has to
focus on family and the commute from Worcester became too much,
especially when we moved our rehearsal space to Charlestown and then he
moved to Rutland. It just became too much on everyone involved. I hope
that our friendship will continue, he is a good friend and the decision
was not an easy one.
Noise: I heard you are working on a new album. Who are you working with?
Shawn: We are in the middle of a strong writing push to finish up the new album, which will be called Socialized
and will be released on Thorp Records in early 2010. It is a much
deeper CD lyrically. I let myself look inward and hit topics about
living, loss, and also subjects like these social networks
desensitizing us and controlling our lives.
We
will be recording at Galaxy Park again. They treat us right. We are
also in a transitional period as a band. With the departure of Brendan,
we are trying out bassists left and right. For the CD, Mark from the
Welch Boys is helping us out on bass. We are also entertaining the idea
of adding a second guitarist to the live act as well. It would add the
depth that we put into our CDs on stage. The biggest thing is that we
don’t let adversity hold us down; we keep moving ahead. It is a very
exciting time here at the Refuse Resist camp.
Noise: What about your last album? Who helped you out with that?
Shawn: Our first record, Mind: Yourself,
was released on Rodent Popsicle Records. We were very excited about
this because Bill is a great guy and the label is well known throughout
the world.
We
made a video for our fan-favorite song, “Still In Massachusetts,” from
that album. In it, we depict a relationship between a typical kid and
his father getting in a fight because all the kid does is sit around
and play video games. The kid gets pissed and goes upstairs and packs
to run away. At the end of the song he realizes it’s not his time to
leave. That is basically what the song is about. Even though my friends
and family have moved out of state, there is something keeping me here.
It’s not my time to run. It’s got almost 10,000 hits on BlankTV, a high
profile channel on YouTube. That is exciting for us, because it was
never a “feature.” Also, there is a video, which was shot in 2008 for
the Jeff Pinto memorial benefit, at Ralph’s Diner in Worcester. It’s
our cover of Sham 69’s “If The Kids Are United.”
Noise: Wow, two labels in two years, how does a local act pull that off?
Shawn:
Luck, and a lot of hard work. And I guess they believe in what we are
talking about and our vision of bringing back some of the great music
that has kind of been lost in the evolution of hardcore/punk today. We
are not a street punk band, or a tough guy hardcore band, but we do
take the pieces we like from all genres and combine them into our music.
Noise: What’s in store for the future? Any tours?
Shawn:
When we release our second record, we will be planning a couple tours.
Hopefully, one East Coast and one West Coast. But it’s premature to
really go into any detail about it. We are going to try and hook up
with some great bands to make each one fun and eventful. On our first
tour, we went out to Chicago and down to Maryland, hitting Ohio, Long
Island, New Jersey, etc. Until we get the bigger tours planned out, we
will indeed be playing mini-tours, which will be weekends to either
upstate New York, New York City, Pennsylvania, or Maryland—basically,
as far as we can go with the time we have. We all have day jobs so we
do the best we can to get out there. Also, for newer bands I’ve figured
out that weekday shows get very little draw, and we want to get in
front of as many people as we can, so weekends just make sense at this
point.
“From
now until the CD comes out, we will be playing fewer shows in the
Boston area, we feel it’s time to branch out. We may pop up here and
there in a basement or at a party, but we are going to focus on the
out-of-state shows. It’s about time we kick off the training wheels and
get out there and see this world.”
Pick up a copy of the Noise at various locations throughout New England or visit us online at www.thenoise-boston.com
Photo (C) Laura Barisonzi 2009
