INTERVIEW: TERROR

Formed in 2002, LA’s Terror is the definition of hardcore. Combining a classic hardcore sound with heavy breakdowns, and just a touch of metal, Terror bridges the gap between these two genres, carrying the torch of old school hardcore ethics while winning over new generation of metal and hardcore fans. With an unrivaled live show, and a relentless touring schedule, Terror has cemented their status as “the hardest working band in hardcore,” gaining legions of diehard fans in their wake.
Their newest album, “The Damned, The Shamed” released over the summer to rave reviews, and Terror is ready to take their band to the next level. We sat down with their singer, Scott Vogel, to ask him a few questions about the band.

Terror has been a band for over 6 years, and you guys tour more than any band that I know. What keeps you motivated?
Before I get to all the bullshit like I love it and all of that… It’s been a lot of work, and we are finally at the point where we are getting paid decently. I’ve been doing bands my whole life, and I don’t really have much of a future after this… It’s definitely good to put some money aside.
Going to new places. We just went to Korea for the first time. We’re going to South America and playing some new places like Columbia and Ecuador.
Sometimes I hate it, but most of the times I love it. Going out and meeting people, and just being able to play music. When you have a great show and the energy and crowd is just right… there’s nothing really like that. It definitely keeps me going.

What were you influences when you started the band, and what are some of your influences now?
When we started the band our biggest influence was probably Madball, but we were influenced by everything from Youth of Today, to Chain of Strength, to Merauder. There are some newer bands too… Bands like No Warning and Bitter End. For the most part, we are at a show everyday we hear 4 loud bands a day. I like to listen to a lot of other stuff, calmer stuff, or hip hop stuff.



In the past you have featured some hip hop artists on your albums. Guys like Evidence from Dilated Peoples and Murs. What is your connection to them?
I really like hip hop, I listen to it all the time. There are a lot of kids that listen to Terror that also listen to hip hop, but there are also a lot of kids that are more closed minded. I think if you take away the sound of the music, a lot of the attitude and style is very similar. I think people that listen to hip hop care about the lyrics… They don’t just use it as background music, it’s something that’s really important in their life. I wanted people that listen to Terror to hear Dilated Peoples and see what they are about. Getting to hang out with Murs and spend some time with him, I saw that he is on the same mental level as us. He has the same passion for music, and the same reasons for doing music.
We did an EP last year, and Vinnie from Jedi Mind Tricks actually screamed on one of our songs… He didn’t rap, he screamed.
He hit us up a year or two ago to remix a Jedi Mind Tricks song, which was really cool. That was the first time we met him, we did that at some studio in Philadelphia. Ever since that, I consider him a good friend, and I’m definitely a fan of his music.
I don’t know if it’s ever gonna happen, but we talked about doing some shows with Murs and maybe a tour with Jedi Mind Tricks. It could be a beautiful disaster, or it could be insanity, or it could go smooth… I don’t know.
I know when I saw Jedi Mind Tricks at the Troubadour a few years ago… Before they went on stage I looked out in the crowd, and it was all white kids with New Era hats…I don’t know what would have happened if we would have played… It could have been crazy.

It could have turned into a giant fight… Someone would step on someone else’s sneakers….
Haha… I don’t know how it would go. The way Terror and Jedi Mind Tricks are, I think we would both be down to try it out and see how it goes.

You hear a lot of stuff about Terror shows about the crowd and the violence… Do you think you have a bad rap?
I know we have a bad rap… Do I think we deserve it? I don’t know. We only have ourselves to blame. There are a lot of clubs that wont book us anymore, and a lot of bands that don’t want to play with us. I think in the last few years we have really calmed down and we don’t have many problems anymore. I think we will always have that stigma attached to us.
There was a point in 2004, that there were fights at all of our shows. People were coming to our shows to fight people, and at that time we didn’t do much to stop it. A year later, no one wanted to book us and no one wanted to have us back, we realized that we were ruining our career. We couldn’t play in a bunch of shows in L.A. for a while…
The only time we get involved is when security is trying to manhandle kids... If we’re playing and people are getting beat up by security, we are not going to sit back and let that happen.


Do you feel that hardcore as a genre, in 2008, is still relevant? Is there still something that can be said that hasn’t been said?
The word hardcore has been stretched so thin. There are a lot of bands out there that consider themselves hardcore bands that have nothing to do with me. There are bands that play “hardcore” that don’t sound anything like hardcore to me… I’m not the judge and the jury. There are still bands that are doing it for the right reasons and are important.
It’s crazy, you can go to Mexico City, and these kids are poor are they are growing up in a completely different environment to me, and we can sit and talk to them about their favorite records and their favorite bands.
I think it’s still relevant. I think it has been tainted, but if you don’t let the bullshit affect you, you can see that it’s still relevant.

Do you think being a hardcore band is limiting? It seems like hardcore bands reach a certain point, and they hit a plateau. How do you continue to grow as a band?
It’s hard because once you start gaining new people you start to lose your core fan base… They want it to be this little secret club that know Terror. Once you put an album out that has distribution, and new people start coming to your shows they get turned off by that.
It’s hard to judge because Terror definitely has bigger and better shows now, but we sell less records because no one buys records anymore. How do you judge?
I don’t get too worried about that stuff. As long as we can still play, and I’m still enjoying it, and I can still pay my bills, I’m going to keep doing it. I think with our new record there is some room for growth, some elements that will catch people off guard. We are just playing what we like what feels right.
Being a band that plays the music we play, we aren’t going to be on the radio or MTV.
But you can take a band like Hatebreed, and I don’t know how they did what they did, but they draw everyone from metalheads, to punks, to hardcore kids, to Goths… There are ways to grow.

How would you describe the sound of your last record, “The Damned, The Shamed”?
It’s definitely Terror… The main difference is that it is a complete album. Some of our older records were 13 songs that all sounded pretty similar to each other… this is a full album with some new elements. It’s exactly the record we needed to make. We got a new booking agent, and a new label… We are in a pretty good spot.

You recently made the switch from Trustkill records to Century Media…
I don’t have too many bad things to say about Trustkill. They did a pretty good job for us. They got our records out, they advertised, and they did the job that we needed. I just think we needed a fresh start. Trustkill has gone in more of an Indie Rock direction… “Cute” guys playing music that I can’t relate to. Century Media is a label that has a little bit of hardcore, but definitely has a metal history, and I feel our band fits in better with a metal label. Another thing that added to our decision is that Century Media is a worldwide label with offices all over the world, and we go overseas all of the time.

Japanese artist, Usugrow, did the artwork for the new record. How did you hook up with him?
We were in Japan, and our bass player, Buske bought a book of Usugrow’s art. Buske knew all about him.
When we got back, Buske emailed him. It turns out that Usugrow was a fan of the band, so he said that he would do it. No one in our genre of music has used Usugrow. When you look at all the records that come out today, all of the artwork is very similar, and this is totally out of left field.



You personally have been playing in bands for almost 20 Years… What keeps you doing it?
I don’t really know anything else. There is nothing else that grabs a hold of me like music does. Before I was in Terror, I was in bands for like 12 years. When I wasn’t in a band, it was cool for like 6 months, but then I would start freaking out. Catch me on the right day, and I would tell you that I hate being in a band and I hate being on tour.
For anyone that thinks being in a touring band is a cakewalk… it definitely sucks a lot. Having no clean clothes, living in a van with a bunch of dudes, and sharing hotel rooms. The good still outweighs the bad…

What’s in the future for Terror?
We’ve had the chance to tour with some big bands, and get on some big tours like “The Sounds of The Underground.” It gets kind of pointless to just tour and tour and tour, and play to the same people each night, we are definitely looking for the chance to play to new people.

Anything else you want to add?
One thing that has been on my mind lately, with the whole downloading thing, is that no one sees the artwork anymore and no one reads the lyrics anymore. That’s the biggest thing that is getting lost. Whether you buy the record or not, at least go to the band’s website and check out the artwork and the photos, and try to get your hands on the lyrics. Without the full package, you’re not getting the full meaning of the band or the music. And if you’re not reading the lyrics then what’s the difference between a real underground band and some bullshit radio rock?

MYSPACE.COM/TERROR
WWW.TERRORHC.COM

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