No For An Answer was a band comprising of former and then current members of Chain of Strength, Justice League and Unity. Their Revelation EP “You Laugh” was quickly gaining “classic” status and they were yet to record their one and only LP “The Thought Crusade.”  I met Dan and Chris just after they got into NYC and interviewed them after their set at the CBGB’s Free For All show.

JD: What Happened with the changes in the band?

Dan: We developed into the most powerful entity in Hardcore by eliminating the fats and cancers from our system. Casey Jones was a singer playing drums. He was in the band because he was a really good friend. . He knew that and wouldn’t take any offense to it. He more than understood when we moved on. Chris Bratton is the most powerful drummer on the West Coast. It was great to get him. John Mastrapaolo was bleeding from a cut of a different cause. So now he is in Uniform Choice. Rob is in Hard Stance where he should be. I mean it’s his brothers band. Rob has “Faced Reality.”

James: What about John Foster. I had heard he was also in the band.

Dan: About six days.

Sterling: He got a modeling assignment.

Gavin: John was too good looking. We kicked him out.

James: Why did you leave Revelation Records?

Dan: Our 7 inch sold like gang busters. Now that was not because of us. The 7 inch sold on the Revelation tag.  I don’t think it’s right that the record sells because of the label it’s on. You can’t learn anything about us through the label we’re on. Other than who we are going to let promote it. I don’t need to sell our records on Ray Cappo or Gorilla Biscuits clout. I don’t want our record to sell because of who’s on that label. They’re good friends of mine  and I respect them. But our affiliation with them was defining us and that wasn’t right. Revelation is a powerful independent label. It’s amazing what they’ve done in the last couple of years. But they are not what we are about. We needed to go somewhere people could only see us and not some big affiliation.

James: What made you choose Hawker Records?

Dan: One thing I want to say right now, It was not a financial thing. People might look at us and say “They left an independent and went with a major.” Jordan offered us two thousand dollars more than Hawker. We opted out of the money and went for the independence. Getting back to Hawker. John Bello called me. I had no idea Hawker even existed. They were very fair. Our contract gives us total freedom. Total musical freedom. No advertising can be made without our direct okay. We cannot be misrepresented and we receive a very large amount of support. I have spoken to Caroline Records. I have talked to Dutch East. I do not trust them. I trust John Bello.

James: Have the lineup changes changed the style or direction of No For An Answer ?

Gavin: Sterling is much more solid than John in that he plays the songs along with me. As where John would just go off on a space odyssey. John was a competent Bass player. There’s no doubt about that. But he did all the accentuation's that I think slowed the music down at times

Dan: The tastes within the band are more uniform now. We do the same things and we aren’t looking towards past examples.

James: Are you doing a major tour to support the upcoming album?

Dan: As of yesterday Europe became largely in jeopardy. We were supposed to leave to Europe on May 25th with Token Entry.

I think we are going to do a domestic tour with them instead. We’ve been talking with John Bello and the feedback has been very positive. Talking to them this weekend. Meeting Ernie and Vinnie in particular. They’re two of the coolest people I’ve ever met.

James: Are you going to be doing another album with Hawker after this?

Dan: Yes, three

James: Does it matter how many records you sell on the first go around?

How much are you being paid for the following releases?

Gavin: We get $7,500 for this one and $12,000 for the next

James: Will the albums be distributed in Europe?

Dan: Yes, they are being distributed in Europe.

James: How does California’s Hardcore scene differ from that of the one in NYC?

Gavin: I think it’s a lot bigger out in California.

Sterling: Also there is a lot of dedication.

Gavin: Well there aren’t any consistent clubs out there booking shows.

James: Having spoken to a lot of bands that have come here from California and have toured out there. People tell me there are a lot of problems with gangs and violence at shows. How do you feel about it and how do you propose to deal with the issue?

Gavin: The show of violence itself sucks. There is a much larger problem with gangs there.

Sterling: It’s a serious problem. The thing is it can be very hard to control sometimes.

Gavin: It’s always cool to stop it before it starts. If you see somebody. Maybe someone who is looking for a fight. It’s good to just mellow them out before it gets started.

Sterling: It’s hard to deal with. Everybody seems to promote it so much. Everyone runs over to see a fight. It seems to me the best thing to do is break it up or ignore it. In most cases there is someone routing for someone else. If there are less people to see it’s going to easier on that person’s ego to walk away. They won’t have all that negative peer pressure. They might think more about what they’re doing.

Gavin: Fenders is by far the worst because it’s right in the middle of gang territory.

James: It would seem that a lot of the Hardcore bands coming out of California these days are down with the Straightedge philosophy.

Gavin: It’s not as wide spread as it is in Connecticut.

Gavin: Hard Stance

James: I heard their record already went through three pressings.

Sterling: I don’t know really. I don’t talk to those guys much these days. They owe me money. They don’t call me.

James: Is the idea and philosophy of Straightedge important to the band?

Gavin: I would like to take it as far as I can. I want to continue backing it up. I  don’t want us to be a flag waving Straightedge band. Because I think it closes too many minds. We are straightedge and we have made the statement. I think we’ve made it strong.

James: Is vegetarianism a part of that for you?

Dan: I am the only vegetarian in this band. Personally, I feel that meat eating is gluttony. It’s impractical and it’s purposeless. It is not of concern or compassion.

I went through eighteen years of life as a meat eater. I scoffed at the idea that we had a moral responsibility to animals. I respected myself during that period of my life. I have no problem with it. I just see it in a different light.

James: Where has the band played outside of New York and California?

Dan: Arizona, Philly, Connecticut. Last week we played about one hundred and fifty yards

from the Mexican Border.

James: Can you tell me about some of the bands that you’ve played with. Favorites that stick out in your mind.

Gavin: For me personally it was really great playing with Scream. They have been one of my favorite bands now for about 5 years now. I would say they were the band for me.

Sterling: Playing with 7 Seconds was fun. They were really nice people. Hard Stance is fun to play with.

Dan: Token Entry tonight. It was cool playing with Government Issue. The thing is we didn’t get to see them. I’ve worshiped them for years.

Sterling: I got to see their sound check.

Dan: It was important for me because at the time they were the only band that graced my turntable. Playing with Agnostic Front was a really big deal to me. Especially when Roger Miret came on stage and relieved me of the microphone to sing for us.

James: Tell me about the song “I Spy”.

Dan: It’s about something we’ve all suffered from, which is ridicule. Ridicule from other people. People hurt other people. People kill other people. People rape other people-as a result of the pain inside themselves. The most common way to hurt someone is verbally. Harass them in front of others is to take an otherwise comfortable social situation-and put them in a hole. Rather than putting them on a pedestal. Verbal brutality is one of the most effective forms. More so than physical brutality. Your tearing another person down. There is blindness in some of the things we say. It’s about being able to see that and keep your eye on it

James: “Domino Principle” is another song that really caught my attention.

Can you give me a little background on the song?

Dan: It’s about child abuse. no-one in this band has been a victim of child abuse. It’s just a situation that never had any trouble inspiring my sympathy was shocked to hear that 90% of all child abusers were abused as children themselves. That makes you think about the pain you suffered a child and the things you went through in that situation. Take that energy and rather then letting it birth resentment. Let your care and concern serve as a warning that you would never put somebody through. It’s thin ice for me to go out and talk about a situation that I’ve never been involved in. But it’s better to do something where you

know what’s wrong and right.

(Interview James Damion. Pictures from original interview were lost.  Interview appeared in the second issue of Unite.)

Sunday, July 1, 2007

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