RR interview in the Boston Noise (print only so far)
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.”
www.myspace.com/refuseresistband
Pick up a copy of the Noise at various locations throughout New
England or online at www.thenoise-boston.com
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