1. The Chemical Threat, the noisy bastards - introduce us to what goes on and what individual units make up the din makers?

We’re from Southampton, and started in 2009. We’ve got Rev on vocals, Pintsize on guitar, Hobbsy on bass and Hoodwink on drums

2.  Your style, why, what are your overall targets in this murky world of dinnage?

I think our style is pretty much straight up hardcore punk. The aim for us is to get our point across in a direct and raw way. We’re certainly not reinventing the wheel, but that’s not really what we’re about. Most of our songs target various assholes and psychopaths: Politicians, global elite, bankers, organised religion, police, racists, mainstream media, it just goes on and on. It’s a big world, with a minority of assholes fucking it up for everyone else.

3.  Your thoughts on the political divisions in the scene, the lack of unity and the upsurge of nostalgia and festival fever?
 
I’m not really informed enough to comment on political divisions in the scene as a whole. The Southampton DIY punk scene is pretty small and we don’t get to play many gigs out of town (offers welcome!). I haven’t seen enough of what it’s like elsewhere. The Southampton scene is pretty united politically. Most punks here are anti-capitalist and anti-fascist. In musical terms it seems like there is a lack of unity. There are smaller, scattered scenes that tend to stick to their own sound. At least people are doing something constructive and creative. Personally, I like gigs with varied sounds, I don’t wanna watch 6 bands that all sound similar, it gets stale.

The nostalgia punk thing does piss me off. Newer bands get overlooked in favour of the classic reformed bands because most people stick to what they know. They snaffle up all the sweet gigs and get paid handsomely for it. Punk shouldn’t be a cash cow to be milked dry. If a band reforms and puts out new material that is relevant and good, then they gain more respect in my book.

I’m not into the big commercial festivals. I’d rather go to a load of DIY gigs with killer, relevant bands, than cough up the same and go to ‘Rebellion’ or some other boring, rip off, commercial nostalgia fest. I think there are some great DIY fests, like Means to an End, Bristol Punx Picnic, Scumfest etc. Killer line ups, well organised and bands get treated with respect.

4.   Cloth ears and guts for garters - imagine it - big floppy lugs made of cotton and someone's entrails holding your stockings up - ooh err!  Now then - what 4 body parts would you replace and what with?

That’s quite a mental picture you’ve conjured up there, sounds like something from The House of a 1000 Corpses! Ah shit I don’t know, I’m quite attached to the parts I’ve got. I guess I’d swap my legs for stilts and then I’d have to get some longer arms to match?!!?

5. Anger is the obvious energy in the punked scene but what other emotions do you feel you need to make a believable impression to the eavesdroppers?

Frustration, anxiety, contempt, depression, hostility, loneliness, boredom, fear, panic, hope, passion, positivity. Any emotion can make an impact if it’s coming from an honest place.

6.  Tell us about your local scene - the gaffs, the good, the grim and the downright glorious?  Also is anyone doing any Onion Punk down there?

Quite often if someone’s putting a gig on, they’ll be a last minute mad panic to borrow cymbals stands from some unwitting victim (usually a local drummer). I don’t know why it’s always cymbal stands!
The gigs at the Lennon’s Club and the Aggroculture DJ nights at the Shooting Star rule.  Losing the King Alfred and Dorchester pubs as venues sucked. There’s been some great gigs at the Alf over the years, it’s sorely missed.
The glorious was Violent Arrest blowing the Hobbit to bits when they played there for Rich’s Birthday STE gig. They were amazing.

I don’t know what onion punk is, but I bet it makes your eyes water.

7.   The best bands you have played with, the best CD's in your collection, the best film you have seen, the best book you have read?

Really enjoyed playing with Discharge, just as powerful as I’d hoped. Constant State of Terror have always blown me away when we’ve played with them. Killer band.
I’ll stick to 3 CD’s otherwise it’d go on and on. Totalitar – Sin Egen Motstandare, Discharge – WHY?, Black Flag – First Four Years.

Best film is The Warriors, best book would be Brave New World. 

8.   Heroes and zeroes in life and music please and what are your favourite characteristics in people?

Anyone who battles a disability everyday is a hero in my book.
It’s gotta be Lemmy, the dude’s a rock n roll machine!
You won’t find much lower than the Rothschild and Rockerfeller clans. These selfish, greedy fucks have caused so much damage to the human race over many decades. Instigating and funding both sides in wars, the pharmaceutical industry, depopulation, mind control, GM food, the corrupt wage slave banking system etc. An un-ending quest for power and profit at the cost of human life. Not too forgetting the damage done to the planet.
In music,  Bono and U2. The sonic equivalent of a turd.

I like people that think for themselves. Also empathy, an open mind, a sense of humour, honesty and  lack of ego.

9. Rectum Rogers, the first anal based street dancer, is holding a cabaret in said excremental area - would you attend, would you eat 8 bowls of fly excrement and would you live with a woodlouse for free insect porn?

Someone once gave me this advice, ‘try anything once, and twice to make sure’.
I’m questioning the wisdom and logic of that statement now!

I’d take a rain check on the fly shit cos I’ve got a weak stomach, but I’d check under the woodlouse’s mattress to get a sneak peek at the insect porn to see if it’s worth shacking up for.

10.   Your thoughts on 2 things - the power of noise and the devolution of the penis fly government?

The power of noise is undeniable in its ability to amp people up and piss them off in equal measure!

   I wish the current lot of penis flies in government would buzz off and let average people start having a real hand in how things are run. Decentralisation of power is a positive thing, but unfortunately in the end the whole system is still owned and controlled by billionaire assholes. Governments and the elites (usually freemasons) have slowly and craftily taken power away from us over many years. Now with the Internet and the spread of information, people are getting wise to their bullshit and can call it out much quicker. I think the cracks in their control system are really starting to show now. There’s a lot more of us than them and knowledge is power.

11.  Lastly - drink the soup of sonica until your belly is fit to burst.  Hold in the devoured liquid food until a state of the tom tits is had - now let thy ringpiece relax and spray your shitty message across the lavatorial landscape and leave us with a stinking message to intrigue!

Thanks a lot for the interview, some of the questions gave me brain burn! ha, ha We’re on the hunt for gigs outside of Southampton, so if anyone’s interested give us a shout at pintsizex@gmail.com  or bruce-hobbs@hotmail.co.uk   We recently released  HALFWAY TO DEAD – 'LIVE AT THE HOBBIT' for free download on bandcamp.
Hopefully we should release a new EP sometime next year.

Beware of the Gatekeepers.

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