Hey!! i´m hearing DISSYSTEMA since their first demo and split ep with HOLOKAUST...i passed a long time without hear many things about them,since i got a copy of their amazing LP "The Silent Earth"...a few different than their first works...but still fucking great too!!!...then i decided to do this interview with them for my poor zine...since i´m doing this with just bands i really like!!!...the interview was answered by Arno who plays guitars!!
VP=Well, let’s start with that boring question....can you say a short history about DISSYSTEMA???? when was formed....etc...
JAY: We started in June of 2002 as a 3 piece (Kev on drums, Steve on guitar and vocals and myself on bass an vocals). Shortly after I moved to 2nd guitar and we just played with no bass player. Kev quit and we found Tom to replace him as well as gained Rob as bassist. By this time we released 2 demos, the splits with Holokaust, Earth Today, and Endless Nightmare and our first LP “Grim Prospects of Our Future”. Tom left the band and Todd replaced him on drums and since then we have released a 7”EP and the 2nd LP “The Silent Earth”.
VP=.WHY "DISSYSTEMA"????
JAY: Well when we started out we were playing the most basic and simplistic raw punk we could, on purpose of course. And we basically chose a band name that was as basic and simplistic as our musical style. This was not a joke, we just love d beat and raw punk so wanted to fall directly into those ranks.
VP=Who are playing what now??? And your members are palying in other bands too???...or doing some others works in underground scene like zines,distros,labels,etc??
JAY: As I mentioned before it is now me and Steve on guitar and vocals, Rob on bass and vocals, and Todd on drums. From time to time Steve, Rob and myself also play in a side project called Nightfall (back to basics Japanese influenced raw punk). Todd for a bit was playing drums in Lost Cause and bass in I Hate This but no longer. Rob is also singing and playing guitar for SPG (Special Patrol Group…a more US hardcore influenced band) and Steve is playing guitar and singing in a peace/crust trio called Aledriver. From time to time I’ll do a zine and we distro a bit at our own shows and things like that.
VP=I’m hearing your works since your split with HOLOKAUST and i saw that the songs=music are going in different directions....musically and lyrically too...what do you say about this?? Well I have to say too that to me the band continues amazing!!!!!!!!!
JAY: Well thanks a lot! We ran out of raw punk riffs, they’ve all been played before ha ha! But no really, what we do now is a little more crusty a little more metal influenced. This just stems from the fact that we love equally so many different styles of music. Including this in our sound is important cause I think otherwise we might start getting frustrated if we didn’t have more of an outlet for things we need to play or write rather than just one thing over and over. Lyrically I don’t think we have changed too much, but there certainly are more lyrics present in each song rather than just one line verses and one line choruses, which is fine and you will still continue to see the familiar “Discharge” format emerge from time to time.
VP=what are your biggest influences?? or favorite bands??
JAY: Well of course things like Discharge, Amebix, Anti Cimex and things like that are very present in our sound, but we all listen to such a variety of things. Every thing from good metal and thrash to blue grass, jazz and folk. A lot of US and UK 80’s hardcore. Personally the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The list would just be too many to name, and probably even more of a task to come up with a favorite.
VP=what about your tours??? special moments or something special to say about?? are you thinking to tour Brazil someday???
JAY: I think ideally we want to tour atleast once any and every place in the world. Just when and where we will strike first is a toss up at the moment. Brazil would absolutely be amazing I think for sure! And of course Japan seems like it could be quite fun. We have only done the West Coast of the US (with In Haste from seattle! It was amazing!!!) and many East Coast and Southern US states. So we have a lot of ground to cover for sure.
VP=What do you enjoy about Brazilian bands=scene?? etc...
JAY: Personally I don’t know too much about what goes on in the scene in Brazil. For a long time now I have enjoyed Ratos De Porao, Armagedom, DFA, Desastre is wonderful!! Lobotomia of course.
VP= Who write the lyrics?? and from where come the inspirations?? since lyrics like "No one" (The Silent Earth lp) for example is really poetic and beyond from "usual" ways to write punk themes...really nice!!
JAY: We all have a hand in writing the lyrics. Most often the lyrics you hear each one of us sing, are the ones we have written. Steve said that “No One” is simply about humankinds utter indifference for each other. Inspiration comes in many forms for all of us I think. The more we see in life whether it be positive or negative, that all finds its way into our words. Sometimes a movie brings inspiration, sometimes a person having died in the streets for unjust reasons, humankinds overall cruelty for the world we live in and son….that inspires us.
VP=Do you believe that political lyrics can "change" something ?
JAY: I think the lyrics themselves tell tales of where we’ve been, how we view the world….and that’s something for someone else to either be inspired by or not. For real change to come about, there is only so far words can go. Action. As they say speaks volumes larger than words. This isn’t to say violence should always be that action, but sometimes just living your life as respectfully as you can around our fellow humans and animals can pay off drastically. Everyone needs to pay it forward you know? Voice yourself if you feel something is wrong or right. And fucking live by those words.
VP=Marald is an excellent artist!! a monster!! how you make the sleeve of "The Silent Earth" lp with he?? the ideas for the art are from you??? or he made it totally by himself ideas??
JAY: The idea of the Silent Earth is a vision I had of the future after mankind has either died off or have been removed from the Earth. The Earth begins to heal itself FINALLY from all the destruction we’ve wrought. I wanted to see our remains encapsulated by mother earth. And Marald brought this vision to life so beautifully. His paintings are just absolutely breathtaking.
VP=What’s the news and next projects from DISSYSTEMA ??
JAY: More writing, more touring with any luck. This machine can’t stop steam rolling even if we wanted it to ha ha.
VP=And now the end...the end is near...it’s time to say...
JAY: Goodbye for now my friend, thank you so much for the interest in us.
Come to the US please as Besthoven and we will be your live band if you need it!!!
http://www.myspace.com/dissystema
http://dissystema.computershateme.org/
