1. The Diehards - usual stuff, a brief history, discography and band member run down with a brief description of each member?
Well we have been a band for about 1 year playing shows but we have suffered a shit load of line up changes. We started as a 3 piece and we've ended up as a five piece and we have 2 new members since we started and 1 of the old members left. But the line-up to this date stands as:- Josh (me) vocals and jumping around the stage like a fool crashing into stuff and people. Steve one of the newer members on bass is a real a funny dude always thrashing around the stage but most of the time playing the wrong song. Rob on drums another newish member was kinda in the band at the start but left for a while. He usually takes care of drinking all the booze, forgetting stuff and being a top top guy - he's only 15 and so is fucking cool for even wanting to do a band. Martin plays guitar and writes most of the tunes, a top guy but fucking shy boy on stage although I think Steve will eventually beat that out of him. Last but by no means least we have Max Jones on bass and with a pornstar name like that he is the fucking shit. He also writes a bunch of the tunes but is also another shy boy on stage. He also has a large alcohol intake.
To date we have 2 releases out. 1 is our less than average first demo although we don't make that anymore. Our second release is a split e.p with a band called "The Grebs" which is entitled "Work Together". It's not the best production but its really fun and we had fun doing it and we always have fun playing shows together and it was quite a shock but more people bought it than we thought would so that's a really big plus on our part!!!
We are hoping to get 2 new releases out early next year both will be 7"s one will be a split with a band from the USA but we're kinda keeping the details about that quiet at the moment although its posted on a myspace page! We will also be doing our own 7" which will be on "Bad Luck Records" if all goes well. Then I guess it'll be time to tour and stuff. Mega fun!!
2. Tell us about your local scene - the faces, the promoters, the venues, the bands etc.
Our local town is called "Harrogate" it used to be the best fucking gig place on earth but over the last few years most of the venues have closed down or just shut all the punk shows down anyway, but its getting way better again as there are a few venues that have re-opened to punk. Ozzy and Simon are the main promoters putting on gigs under the title of "NYHC:- North Yorkshire Hardcore" its fucking ace. Over the years shit loads of great bands have graced those shows as well as a whole host of amazing local bands. Two bands that really stick out for me in Harrogate at the moment are "Fuck With Fire & Jimmy Hotrod" they are really good at what they do and really nice guys too. Well I have to say that cos they're my mates but I really do mean it! As far as faces go I'm not much of a people person so I hate them all. Nah just kidding a lot more kids are starting to turn up to shows so thats always good if the youth are at the shows it bodes well. At least that way new people are always finding out about the scene.
3. What are your own personal influences and the major influences of the band?
My personal influences for the band are a million things. The news really influences a lot of the songs with war and murder everyday it makes me really angry and I think music is probably the best way to get your point of view across. I know there a lot of crusty bands who are into protests and as much as I respect what they're doing I'm not sure if it works or not. Other things non-musical that influence our songs are things like, chavs, sluts, depression, and just a huge hate really for most of the people I walk past in the streets. I'm not at all elitist but some people really do need to sort there fucking lives out.
Musical influences? Wow there are so many for me its mainly straight edge hardocre and screamy punk. Like :- Minor Threat, The Unseen, Outbreak, Xfilesx, Dirty Money, Set Your Goals, Rancid, The Virus, Just Fucking Die, Far From Finished, Discharge etc. There are literally a million and this is just me. I know the other guys in the band have loads of other influences. Our new songs though are really inspired by being angry and pissed off.
4. Sharon Shovelbuttocks has redesigned her posterior into the shape of a Spear and Jackson spade so that she can not only sit down in the garden but do a spot of weeding at the same time. I liked this idea so much I have had my penis re-moulded so now it looks like a hoe - great for mooching in the undergrowth (hidden message)!
Tell us about any fantasies you have regarding garden implements and would you smash Stuart Hall (Its a Knockout presenter) in the face with a lawnmower for several bottles of Cognac?
Well as far as garden implements go I'm not sure but I know for a fact Steve would fuck anything whether its a garden implement or a can of stella. And as far as smacking the guy in the face yeah sure he probably deserves it! or not. But the Cognac you can keep.
5. Best and worst gigs to date - give us all the elaborate details!
Wow the worst gig? To be honest w'eve done quite well to date though our first few were quite bad but audience wise pretty sweet. Right the worst show was probably our first headline show in York. We were billed to play second but ended up headlining cos the band who were susposed too got too fucked on drugs so they played in our place but because they were billed to headline, everyone thought that after they played the gig was over so they all fucked off and we ended up playing our first headline show to about 5 people. It was really cool though everyone there knew the words and sang along. So it wasn't all bad.
I think that our best gig was the first time we ever played in Boston. It was absolute carnage, after about 5 seconds Ii was in the air crowd surfing and someone had picked up Max's guitar and everyone was going mental, dude to all the people and total craziness we didn't play all that great but everyone loved it and we had a fucking blast. I totally recommend Boston to anyone whether your are in a band or not its so fucking cool and everyone down there is amazing!
7. Tell us about your aims and ambitions as a band and any work ethic you have so as to maximise output!
Well basically our only ambition is to play as many shows as we can - anything else is just a by product of this or a coincidence. We are out to just wreck as many people and venues as possible and have as much of a laugh as we can by doing this. I guess I also have an ambition of doing an LP one day but I'm not too bothered about that at the moment all I wanna do is get the new songs on record so people can hear them and hopefully like them, then they'll book us for shows and tours so we can go out and destroy places. I think we have a really good work ethic - we play with all we've got and we're never late to shows or arsey about thing like those fucking rockstar scene bands. We don't care if we open shows or headline as long as we get to play, we also have a bunch of merch done which is no easy thing to do so all thats been hardwork, but to us all the work is worth it just for that 15 minutes a night when we can play our heats out to anyone who will listen!
8. Smoking poodles is a great way to get high but alas I can't afford one and stick to the odd mongrel here and there! Are you a poodle man or have you any other way of achieving an animal high?
Well I don't get high so this question is totally wasted on me. But good look with the hunt for poodles!
9. Heroes and zeroes in life and music please?
Tim Armstrong because anyone that can make a simple band like Rancid reach megastardom is so fucking clever its unreal. I don't get all the shit that Rancid get off people - fair enough they signed to a big label but who cares? They're popular and as far as I'm concerned the more people that can hear good bands the better, otherwise it'll be My Chemical Romance and Aiden all the way and I fucking hate that emo/screamo bullshit!
Zeros would have to be just any fucking low life that starts fights at shows or gives punk/skins/ hardcore kids/ goth's etc shit just becasue they look different. I mean who the fuck wants to look like everyone else. It'd be boring if everyone was a clone. Also zeroes would be all those fucking racists - I dont get that 'its just a skin color', inside we're still the same kids. It just goes over my head the need to hate someone for something they have no control over!
10. Punk rock and politics - what are your feelings on this sometimes dodgy ground? Should they be two seperate entities or is it just a matter of course that the two go hand in hand?
I think that it really depends what you're aiming for, there are a lot of great political bands out there and also a lot of really great non-political bands. As far as they go I'm open to listen to either. But the thing that annoys me is when your at a show and the bands start shooting propaganda down your throat. A few words hear and there don't hurt anyone but when they start ranting it just gets to me. They're preaching to the converted they need to take there views to the street rather than all the kids who have opened their eyes. But politics and punk are synonimous with one another so I guess as long as there's something thats wrong in the world punk bands will be singing about it which is totally rad. There aren't a lot of other genres that would deal with some of the issuses punk bands bring up!
11. Sherry flavoured sherbert - I love it but what alcho-treats are you obsessed with and would you eat a fire extinguisher for several boxes of dead mans toes?
I think its safe to say aside from me and Martin the others would rather go and get a bottle of gin than fuck around with sweets. He, he, he and then you'd get someone to eat a fire extinguisher for free. Ha, ha so many funny nights.
12. Finally - push the band and arouse our curiosity and force or hands to type in the site address and set about checking you lot out.
Cheers for reading this and if you wanna check us out further then you can do so at www.myspace.com/thediehardsarmy please don't hesitate to ask us anything you'd like or pester us about total bollocks. Also any gigs you got we'll play!! Up the punks! And thanks again for taking the time to read this
