Aaron Icarus and Joe C. sat down to dinner with Ink and Dagger at a Denny’s on the Strip in Las Vegas one winter night in 1998. After the members of the band described in detail how much they loved Chris’ mom, (Chris is the lights/sample guy in the band) we got down to business. Terrence, the drummer, said one thing during the whole interview and that was…
terrence – fuck your mother in the ass.
sean – we’re in vegas and there were 16 year olds suckin’ me and josh off in the back of the van. i fingered her asshole and she started cryin’. fuck dude.
chris – i’m never drinking before 2:00 again.
buddyhead – josh, you sold these things? (pointing to the tape recorder)
josh – yeah at staples.
buddyhead – how long did you work there?
josh – 4 years. i had like 5 of em. we left this $200 one in europe on tour w/ refused.
buddyhead – ok, what are your names, what do you play and how old are you?
chris – i’m chris, also known as the destructive force known as el nino. i do the odds and ends in the band. i’m 22 and i was in earth crisis during the
“firestorm” era.
josh – i’m josh, bass, 22.
joe – (pointing to terrence) that’s terrence grohl.
sean – i’m sean. i sing.
buddyhead – how old are you dude?
everyone – hahahahahahahaha
sean – not nearly as old as ron flict.
don – don. 22. guitar.
buddyhead – when did the band start?
don – like 3 years ago.
buddyhead – what was the original line-up?
sean – a buncha fat fuckin sluts.
don – slim down or slim out.
buddyhead – how many people have come in and out of the band since the begining?
sean – about the same amount of people that come in and out of your mom’s bedroom every night.
buddyhead – where was the first show?
don – in a living room in ’96.
josh – i was there. i wasn’t too into it.
chris – yeah they had mariachi costumes on.
josh – i went cuz i knew sean. i’ve known him 7 or 8 years.
buddyhead – when you started the band, what was your goal and how has that changed?
sean – it hasn’t changed. just fuck everything up.
buddyhead – like on the cd it says, “let it be known ink and dagger stands for…” is that still the same?
sean – yeah.
buddyhead – how did you hook up with initial and do you think you fit in with the other bands on that label?
everyone – hahahahahahaha
joe – yeah i hear a bell. round one.
don – we decided to be on initial. they didn’t have a choice really.
buddyhead – do you have a favorite band on the label?
don – i don’t really follow that label.
buddyhead – you guys make it obvious through your records and live shows that you don’t wanna pigeonhole yourselves.
don – on this tour everyones under the assumption we signed to revelation.
buddyhead – when kids are like. “ink and dagger is all about vampire shit” and only that, does it attract a certain audience or keep certain people away?
don – probably a little of both.
buddyhead – have you seen a backlash?
don – there’s a backlash and a reverse lash. like nerdy kids who go see boy sets fire might not be into it. i see a lot of older people like us. people who have seen a lot of bands and a lot of changes in music. not even just the punk scene. like music in general.
buddyhead – are you guys tired of people fuckin with you?
sean – i think we fuck with people more than they fuck with us.
don – we don’t try to fuck with people. we haven’t ever put extra effort into it.
buddyhead – are there any bands that hate you?
don – this fag band from kansas city.
sean – dude! we saw nooch (the icarus line’s old drummer) in san francisco!
chris – we’ve seen so many nooch look alikes this tour.
don – he was like, “i’m dyin to play music man, just dyin”
everyone – hahahahahahahah
joe – why don’t you ask chris about his feeble attempts to score?
(more guffaws)
buddyhead – what about don and that one dagger groupie. what happened there dude?
don – old friends dude.
sean – friends that fuck.
don – dude, new tours, old whores.
buddyhead – what was the response like in europe?
don – cool. we were spoiled though. like hot water music was out at the same time and didn’t have it as good.
buddyhead – so what happened with you and refused don?
don – those guys are sumpthin else.
buddyhead – but what fuckin happened?
joe – aaron doesn’t take any shit.
buddyhead – how did you meet those guys?
don – through this girl.
sean – a rather fat girl. she looks like the predator with those fuckin things comin down.
don – they really poured themselves into that record as much as they know how.
joe – as much as they know how. hahaha. always on the condescending edge.
buddyhead – what happened to the van on this tour?
josh – i lost control of it in montana and it flipped.
don – josh was like suspended above me stuttering.
everyone – hahahahahaha
sean – i had this vision that nobody would come for us for like 45 minutes.
didn’t we figure out that we’d eat chris first?
buddyhead – are there any bands you admire right now in underground music?
sean – like dillinger escape plan.
chris – that man or astroman thing is kinda cool.
sean – don’t put that in there. that’s the gayest thing.
everyone – bongzilla is cool.
buddyhead – what bores you the most about bands now?
sean – college rock.
buddyhead – what about emo?
sean – that’s college rock, that’s all it is. 99% of music bores me.
buddyhead – what do you think the difference is between the east coast scene as opposed to the west coast scene?
don – i think on the east coast it’s more sophisticated.
joe – thanks dude.
everyone – hahahahahaha
joe – so basically, everybody on the west coast is a remedial idiot.
sean – the suck factor is large all over.
don – it’s way more laid back here, like “yeah whatever”
buddyhead – what kind of direction are you trying to take the new music?
sean – we obviously don’t fit into any genre of music, so we’re trying to be our own genre.
buddyhead – what’s coming out next?
don – there’s a 2 song 7″ coming out in germany, and a split 7″ on initial with one song.
buddyhead – what are your feelings on d.i.y.?
sean – well, d.u.i.’s some pretty fucked up shit.
everyone – yeah d.u.i.’s suck.
joe – you walked into that one.
don – i would never give any band shit for being on a major, i have had situations with indie labels where i have been treated worse than any major label could treat me. it’s all situational.
buddyhead – is there any kind of political stance in the band?
sean – more like personal politics.
don – everythings politics, not having politics could be your politics.
buddyhead – what’s left on this tour?
don – we were supposed to do some shows with elliot, but i dunno.
joe – doesn’t that guy sound like bryan adams?
don – they don’t know any better.
buddyhead – any favorite places to play?
joe – let’s hear it for valdosta georgia. oh and a shout out to the fucker in
in vero beach florida who stole my back pack. we’re comin for ya baldy.
buddyhead – what kind of jobs do you all have?
sean – i think we all pretty much just fuck chris’ mom.
chris – i build houses.
sean – i do lotsa computer stuff.
joe – don and lance have a running bet. whoever stays jobless the longest wins.
buddyhead – you guys have girlfriends er sumpthin?
everyone – nah
sean – oh don does.
don – oh yeah, why not?
buddyhead – don, are you a vegetarian?
don – yeah. i was vegan for a long time. i probably will be again.
buddyhead – dude let’s get some dirt. what about that band boxer?
sean – oh yeah, i bagged the singers’ girlfriend.
chris – they’re the kinda band that hears you packin the bong 20 miles away.
sean – yeah, go smoke some weed, me and your girlfriend will be downstairs.
don – they’re cool though.
sean – yeah, they’re a real original and innovative band.
everyone – hahahahahahaha
buddyhead – what do you think of sam mcpheeters’ review of you guys where he says you blow your schtick by opening your mouths in interviews?
don – i think it was a pretty fair assessment actually. yeah, right on.
sean – yeah, i saw born against once. sam had this like 200 foot mic cord and ran all over the place and sat down next to me and did his thing right there.
i was trippin’ on acid.
buddyhead – any last words or anything you want anybody to know?
sean – we don’t want anybody to know anything.
