So I’ve been emailing back and forth with Nick, COKE BUST’s singer, a lot over the past few months making sure all is a go for the upcoming show this Wednesday. I sent him a few questions to help give you guys a better idea of what to expect from the band.
They have a new LP, entitled “Lines in the Sand” which will be available on Wednesday at the show. I highly recommend checking it out. It’s some fast and furious hardcore.
On “Lines in the Sand”…
It’s just about having enemies, both inside and out of the punk circle. There are some people who cannot be reached via compromises, and there are people who you have no desire to reconcile with. It’s about that. It’s not a straight edge thing, though… I think alot of people think that.
On Straight Edge Hardcore…
I love straight edge hardcore. I’m into being straight edge, and I’m into the message. I think it’s super important. I feel like we’re all kind of on the same page as BLANK STARE, SICK FIX, BLACK SS, POISON PLANET, among others. Not pushing some bogus hardline message, and not focusing in on the aesthetics of straight edge. Those bands provide us with inspiration.
On Confrontational Straight Edge Hardcore…
We aren’t hardline, we have no “problem” with people who drink. I think that’s silly. I grew up in the punk scene with my skater friends who dropped acid and smoked pot. It wasn’t for me, for sure, but we’re all tolerant of other people’s choices. Also, we’re all in favor of legalizing drugs. I don’t mean to say all this stuff to backpeddal or anything like that- we are very much a straight edge band. But straight edge is something very relavent to our lives and drugs/alcohol play a huge role in the lives of a lot of people we care about.
On Being in a Straight Edge Band…
I think it says something when a band gets behind an issue. Sure we could all be straight edge personally and just play music to play hardcore-and that’d be cool. I don’t see things being too much different… but classifying ourselves as a straight edge band gives us more substance, more of a drive, and honestly as cheesy as it sounds… it makes us go a little harder I think. It’s weird. If a lot of the straight edge bands that I listened to when I was younger didn’t classify themselves as edge then maybe I never would have even considered that it’s possible to live a life completely free of drugs/alcohol. And I think that’s really important. If we could ever play a role in keeping some young kids straight and saying, “hey there IS an alternative” then it would all be worth it in my mind.
On the Depth of the LPs Content…
Well, for one… we have more room to work with, haha, the extra 5″ of vinyl helped out with that. I don’t feel that hardcore has certain topics that “need to be addressed” more than others per say. I think that as long as it is genuine and from the heart that it is important and should be spoken. I’d rather hear some band talk about some cheesy, predictable shit like breaking up with their girlfriends than going on Wikipedia trying to find some shit to act all political about. Personally, there are lots of things that I felt pissed off about. It wasn’t planned out… just kinda happened.
On What You Should Expect From a Coke Bust Live Show…
Don’t expect it to last long. Don’t expect any huge speeches. We like to get down to the point, get into it, play fucking fast, and let it all out. I don’t want to hype it up and try to sell our show like a rodeo though, haha. We’re very pumped to come, though. Heard lotsa cool things about Toronto.
