When I die, I want to be cremated and have my ashes
incorporated into a BBQ rub. However, if
I were to ever have the proverbial tombstone, I’d want it to say, “He Hated Children and Had An Ear For
Grindcore”. I do trust my ear for
Grindcore, mostly because I’ve always been more metal than punk, despite having
a love and respect for punk/hardcore music.
So when I heard a couple tracks from New Brunswick, New Jersey grinders, Budd Dwyer, I knew they were
legit. Metal intertwined with hardcore
is definitely nothing new, however Budd
Dwyer’s specific blend caters to everything fap worthy about both. As a matter of fact, if you were to emulsify
my entire music library, Budd Dwyer
is what would ooze out. So fortunately,
I was able to catch up with Josh
from Budd Dwyer who was cool enough
to take the time to do this interview…
For those of us in
the Midwest that may not be familiar, tell us about the band and walk us
through your history.
Budd Dwyer had the humblest of beginnings, I was set up to book a
show for Pizza Hi Five and Powercup on their tour to support the
split they put out back in 2011 and I wanted to do the show as a six band all
versus set show because I had done one the winter before that and 100+ people
packed into my shitty basement in New Brunswick. Why not do it again? Only
problem was that I only had 5 bands and
the show was approaching rapidly so I said fuck it and wrote 7 short fast
violent grind songs with my girlfriend’s younger brother playing drums instead
of finding another band like a normal person. The sets were Budd Dwyer vs Violent Gorge, Pizza Hi Five
vs Powercup and Misanthropic Noise vs Dead
Womb (a really killer local noise/pv band that broke up a little while
after). Every band was a 2 piece. I
recorded our demo with Justin but when time came to tour he couldn’t do it and
Daniel Savoy took his place and has been the drummer ever since. We toured
every winter and summer since then up until now. Every tour was better than the
last one and I would like to think the same about our recordings.
` The self titled full length
went pretty unnoticed but we got great reactions on our Summer tour in 2012
with Salo from Brooklyn. Smoking roughly 7 blunts of dirt weed a day
and sweating our fucking nuts off in the back of Andrew’s van we toured for
about 2 weeks through the Midwest and New England. I’d love to name drop all of
the bands that we played with but I’m lazy and they know who they are and that
we love them very much. Being a two piece has made touring incredibly easy for
us and we take advantage of that as much as possible with weekend tours and we
did another winter tour down south, playing in our second home in Baltimore
twice( December 26th and New Years with our friends in Spoilage). After that we came back
home, wrote and recorded the Never
Satisfied material and hit the road again in the summer of 2013 with Ubasute for the first leg of New
England and Upstate NY and then the second leg starting with the Baltimore Punx
Picnic followed by 2 weeks with Spoilage
fueled by Twisted Tea and Bud Light Lime. We are still going strong and planning to tour
the whole US this august with Department
of Corrections from France, we played 2 shows with them last year when they
came to the states and they were fucking insane so I’m looking forward to
spending so much time with them and exploring our bodies……ummm yeah, moving on.
You guys have a
unique blend of what I label as grindcore.
There’s a definite thrash element, some fast hardcore, powerviolence, a
bit of everything. What’s your approach
when writing your music? Where do you
draw some of your influences?
I’m glad you picked up all
the different genres that we try to blend together. The way I like to view
extreme music is through the eyes of someone who knows nothing about it. To
your average person who doesn’t search for music and just listens to what is
crammed down their throats, all this shit sounds the same so I don’t bother
trying to stick to the rules of one genre or another. I play whatever I like
because it’s all just noise anyway. I want to see crowds mosh which is where
the hardcore influence comes from but I grew up on death metal, thrash, grind
and doom/sludge so I just do everything
but try to make it sound cohesive
enough that you know you are listening to the same band when you hear us again.
There seems to be a
grindcore explosion happening. Do you
label your music as grindcore? Is there
a certain type of person who is into grindcore or are both metal and hardcore
kids receptive to your music?
The Midwest has had some fucking
great bands come out in the past 5 years and I think that bands like Weekend Nachos and Ceremony have upped the ante for hardcore bands to the point that
its not rare to hear blast beats at a hardcore show today. I love grind so it’s
never enough for me, keep it coming. We are a grind band at our core with a
little powerviolence spice and a pinch of doom and hardcore. In my experience
kids that are into grind are open minded and have tastes that are all over the
map from extreme stuff to pop-punk and rap and anything else. We’ve had this
problem from the beginning where we are too punk for the metal shows and too
metal for the punk shows but when you got something for everyone so everyone
leaves only a little disappointed. I
hate death metal and black metal dudes who only listen to one thing, can’t get
more boring than that.
You have a demo, a
full length, and an EP that dropped in 2013, all available online. Are all of these self recorded and released? Have you talked with any labels about getting
them pressed and distributed?
Yup, we’ve done everything on our
own so far but Never Satisfied is
getting released by a couple small labels on tape in the near future. No Work Records from Miami, Riotous Outburst from Rhode Island and Cheeseburger Picnic from Delaware are
all helping us out doing 100 copies each. Find them if you want to get
something in the mail because we are going to sell our copies at the shows for
the most part.
Along those same
lines, with so many new bands popping up, how hard is it to get the attention
of a label willing to put out a release?
Honestly we don’t spend any time
searching for a label because with the internet it is possible to do it on your
own. You’re not going to be Metallica but that’s not important to us, we’re
just in it to meet cool people and play with cool bands all over the country
and have a good time doing it. As long as we make enough money to get drunk and
fed and then we got a place to sleep after the show then we’re doing a good
job. Relentless touring gets your name out there slowly but surely and then
people end up checking us out on the internet when they see that we are coming
to town. We have hit a lot of places on the east coast multiple times and it
seems like more people like us in Baltimore or VA Beach than in NJ but we’re
looking forward to conquering the West Coast this summer.
Are there any
specific topics or issues that you try to address lyrically? Any particular stances you take within your
personal lives, drug free, vegan, Obamacare support, necrophagia, etc?
I feel like I take the Black Flag approach when it comes to
writing lyrics, say what you mean and say it as if you are screaming it
directly into the listeners face. I try to keep it personal and don’t talk
about topics I’m not educated on. Songs about suicidal ideation, drugs,
feelings of alienation, shitty friends and depression/disillusion with
mainstream society are all things that I have gone through and I’m sure others
have dealt with too. Occasionally when I’m short on ideas I’ll talk about
something that has happened in the news like Karma’s a Bitch on Never Satisfied is about a cop in NYC
that used his gun to threaten and rape a woman and how he’s gonna have no one
to protect him when he goes to jail and hopefully gets what he deserves.
As far
as my own ideas about life, don’t fuck with me and I won’t fuck with you,
simple as that. Appreciate your friends and family and try to be a person worth respecting and
trusting, we all got our weak moments but we’re not out to change the world,
just share our thoughts with whoever is willing to listen. You can’t understand
the words anyway haha. We eat meat. We fuck dead people. Boys and girls, no one
is safe. I have a problem with anyone who tries to tell other people how to
live their lives, no matter how positive your message is, shut the fuck up.
What’s the New
Brunswick, NJ scene like? Any rivalries
between kids/bands/towns? Any venues, zines,
labels, or bands up your way that we need to know about?
New Brunswick was the shit a
couple of years ago, there was metal, hardcore, punk, noise, indie and rap
shows all of the time and you had to pick which show you wanted to go to. At
least 3 or 4 a week. Nowadays Brunswick has really fallen off, most of the
people that were really making things happen in the scene have moved on but
there is still the Meatlocker up in Montclair which is in North Jersey. I grew
up going to shows there when I was 15-18 and it was tons of fun, got shut down
for underage drinking and now it is making a comeback so that’s definitely a
place to hit if anyone has a band touring through NJ. We try to keep the beef
to a minimum but the hardcore scene has its fair share of that. I’m just gonna
go ahead and plug a bunch of bands from our area; Bible Thumper, Ubasute, Dutchguts, Through Thorn and Briar, Ugly Parts,
Razorheads, Loose Ends, Secret Police, Ides, Dethroned Emperor, Lowlife,
Capacities, Organ Dealer, Dead Wurm, Emetic, The Misfits, Bruce….I’m sure
I’m forgetting some but we got some good friends from PA (Coffin Dust, Angelcrust and Occult45)
and NY (Mother Brain, Buckshot Facelift
and The Communion) that deserve
mentioning too. Not much in the way of zines or labels but we make shows
happen. I feel like a lot of people will skip over Jersey between Philly and NY
because the drive isn’t that long but it’s worth stopping for a show or two if
you are in the area.
You guys played a
show in Boston over the summer with Ira Graves, one of my favorite bands. What are some other shows you’ve played that
stand out?
James from Ira Graves (the singer) is the goofiest
dude but his vocals are so harsh that you forget he looks like a prepubescent
16 year old. We thought about kidnapping him and making him sing for Budd Dwyer last time we played with
them. Ubasute is a really killer
band too, they’re the most aggressive screamo band you’ve ever heard and their
drummer blasts so much that he has probably gained 20 pounds of muscle since
they started a year ago. Priapus and
BrainxToilet from North Carolina are amazing grind bands and good friends of ours. Ancient Torture Techniques from VA
Beach another sweet grind band. Midwest mincers are always fun to play with; Agitate, Na’kay, PHF, Lt Dan, Chronic
Demise. Tombstalker and Reanimator from Lexington KY are killer, Coffin Dust is Exhumed’s radioactive clonebaby from PA. Nunhex and Devalued from
Floridapunx as fuck, Days Of Hate
from Brazil was a ton of fun to hang with because they stayed with us for 4
days and had never been to America before. Dopecopper,
Burning Axe, Spoilage, Cold Inside, Old Lines and At the Graves all from Baltimore all kick ass. That list will be
twice as long by next year because of this summer tour.
Some bigger bands we have gotten to play with are PLF, Weekend Nachos, ACxDC, DOC and in
May 2014 I’m doing a show for Magrudergrind
and one for Maruta (who share some
members with Nunhex).
This zine is out of
Kansas City and I think it’s always helpful to get an outside perspective. What’s your knowledge of KC? What’s the East Coast perception of the
Midwest in regards to music?
Never been there myself but
I did get the chance to see Sucked Dry
in St Louis when I was there on tour with Big
Werm. The thing I like the most about the Midwest is the enthusiasm that
the kids have compared to jaded crowds in NYC that get to see great bands all
the time and don’t give a shit anymore. When everyone is excited to be at a
show you can feel it and it makes playing that much better. Definitely a bunch
of sick bands from the Midwest, you know like slipknot. They’re br00tal.
What are some of your
goals for Budd Dwyer moving forward? Any
plans to tour or record new music?
We are recording 2 new tracks for a
split with BrainxToilet from NC,
hopefully that is out by our summer tour with Department of Corrections from France in August. I’ll be calling
you for a show in KC on our way home from LA probably in early September!
Where can people go
to listen to your stuff? Who can people
contact for tour/release/merch inquiries?
Buddxdwyer.bandcamp.com ……We have everything
that we have recorded up for free download, so if you want to waste your time
listening to us, have at it. Email us at drudgerynj@gmail.com
if you want merch or need help booking a show in NJ. If that don’t work just
call me (Josh 973-896-9017) I am expecting prank calls.
I appreciate your
time. I’m a big fan of your style and appreciate
your contributions to hardcore. Take
this opportunity to plug anything you want, say anything you want, or give a
shout out to whomever. Thanks, man.
No…..Thank you!
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