INTERVIEW
STATIC RADIO NJ
by Christer Davidsson, November 2006

Hey! What’s up Static Radio?

Vic: Not much Mutiny Zine!

For how long have you been playing?

We've been a band for about 4 1/2 years, which is pretty long considering we're all only around 20 years old.

Have you been in other bands before the days of Static Radio?

Nothing really noteworthy, we all had little things at first but nothing that got anywhere.

You are from New Jeresy, how’s the scene doing there?

A lot of people will say the scene sucks in new jersey and I disagree. We have great shows in New Jersey, and great bands tour through New Jersey. I think it could be a LITTLE better, but that's what we're here for. That's also why the cover of our demo and our 7" is New Jersey, to try and get a little more jersey pride out there.

One of my favorite bands, the Ratchets, are from New Jeresey, do you guys know them?

Sure we do, great band. Ii dont know them personally except for Zak (Kaplan), he did a lot for the 7 inch, including making the actual label thats on the record itself. He also helped us write "Get Up" (it's on the 3 way split with the Gallows and Void control). Great guy, knows his shit.

So, what have you guys released up until now?

We had a 4 song demo YEARS ago, then the 3 way split with the Gallows (RIP) and Void Control (RIP i think). Then there was a compilation called "Scream for Help", Koi Records put that out, it's got a ton of good bands on it, I wish we got at least 1 in the mail or something. Anyway, there were some other comps like a Skratch records comp and a Morieris records comp. And our brand new 7" called "One For the Good Guys" out on Chunksaah.

The first Static Radio song I heard was the one you did a video for. It’s great song! Tell me about the video.

Thanks! The video was sweet. It came out really well, our friend James made it at Flood City Productions. The whole thing took a day (except the editing) and it happened to be the hottest day of the year. It wasn't this summer, it was last. And the whole video is us running around, so we picked a hell of a day for it. But yeah, it was a just for fun thing, and Flood City was really awesome to work with, I recommend them!!

You got a new 7” coming out on Chunksaah, excited?

Fuck yeah we're excited! They look great, they sound great, I think its our best recorded stuff yet. Plus Chunksaah has just been so incredible for us, not only because we've loved Chunksaah for so many years, (since we were really young, it was like Epitaph to us) but they're the coolest DIY label you can be on. There was no contracts at all, absolutely no bullshit. They took us out to dinner! They've also gotten us shows with our favorite bands, like Lifetime, the Explosion, Bouncing Souls, Strike Anywhere... all from them, so chunksaah is basically the coolest thing that's happened to us, we're very psyched and extremely thankful.

Tell me about the songs on the new release.

Shorter, faster, louder!

What are your songs about in general?

Oh man.... anything really.. "Won't Sleep" from the 7" is about tough guy hardcore and their crews and all that, and how the scene is like secretly ruled by a mafia type gang, and it's really fucked up and really stupid. How it's cool to fight and break shit and get venues shut down. A line is "you think you're special for setting a bad example". A lot of our songs are about the same sort of thing. "One For The Good Guys", the title track, is named because the record is the good kind of hardcore, not the bullshit heartless stuff that's big now, and we wanted people to think of it as one for the good side of the scene, because that's the change we want to see. A step in the right directions. we've also had songs about ex girlfriends and our friend Adam.

I’ve only heard the song "Won't Sleep" from the new 7”. I’d say that it’s a bit more hardcore than the earlier stuff I’ve heard. Am I right?

It is, totally, it's what we've evolved into, and we'll probably continue to evolve, the stuff we're writing now is a little less hardcore, and who knows, maybe we'll be playing Hot Water Music type songs in a year. We won't limit ourselves because we draw from a wide variety of influences, we can definately do other things.

What are your biggest influences?

Any type of original music, a lot of the Dan Yemen bands, any of the CIV bands, anything you can think of really. And lets be honest, our biggest influences are obvious.

You got a bunch of shows coming up in january with Arm The Poor. Tell me about that band. Good friends of yours?

Arm the Poor we met on tour in Florida, it was love at first sight. They were missing their 2nd guitar player, and completely trashed, and they were amazing. They played a ton of Rancid covers, and i think a Bouncing Souls cover, and they were done really well. Their songs were OK as well. So i said "let's tour" and they said "ok" and here we are. We went back down to Florida for the Fest 5 and chilled with them there, they're just great dudes, really talented, great band.

Have been touring a lot before?

We did a month in the summer, and took a week for the fest, but thats about it. We plan on doing a ton of it. January for a month, then in the summer we wanna do like 2-3 months straight at least.

What’s the best show you’ve ever done and why?

Oh man, eh we had a really sweet one last night with Shook Ones, that was a ton of fun. Last weekend was up there, that was with Lifetime and The Explosion. That was amazing, those are 2 of our biggest influences, and to be playing with them on one show, when I found out I almost shit my pants. And of course playing with the Souls was amazing. Hopefully our best show will be coming up, either one of the ones with The Draft next weekend or our record release show.

Are there any plans of recording an album? Any interested labels?

No plans really, we're just real psyched on the 7" and we're gonna tour our asses off for that, and when we've had it we'll start writing an album.

Any bands from New Jeresey that you would like to recommend?

Fuck yeah: The Fire Still Burns, Seasick, Dead End Saints, The Rachets, definitely the Spanish Bombs, Cash In, definitely Groups of People, DEFINITELY The Ergs!, and Affirmative Action Jackson (even though they're from philly).

Ok, anything else you’d like to get off your chest before we say bye?

I would like to say thank you for this interview, and it was definately the best interview I've ever done, it's very personalized to the band, which is sweet, good job! Thanks a lot!

Oh yeah, and Marc sucks!



Links:

http://www.myspace.com/staticradio