Here is the second part of the interview with Scream, one of the core bands of the hardcore punk scene that developed in Washington D.C. during the ‘80s. After their split in 1990, they recently reunited, releasing, in 2011, the EP ‘Complete Control Session’, and touring both the U.S. and Europe. Toonari Post met Scream in connection with their concert in Vienna, Austria.

Scream’s music is available for purchasing in the major digital platforms.

Toonari Post (TP): The name of one of your records is “No more Censorship”. There has been much talking lately about laws and agreements like ACTA, which are presented to protect intellectual property rights, but that indeed restrict the possibility of expression of people, as well as their general privacy, due to strict control: what is your opinion about that?

Pete Stahl (PS): well those are pretty complicated issues, and I’m not familiar with the legislation. They should protect people’s art, finding a balance, without giving governments access to people’s information and be able to track them. I don’t mind someone using our songs to create something else, but I wanna be credited, and if they’re gonna make money out of it, I wanna be paid.

Our music is like a picture that you can cut out of a magazine and make a poster out of it, it’s fine. I think there are some other things that could be done out of a legislation. So I’ll leave it up hopefully to politicians.

TP: So your position is against free music downloading.

PS: I come from that era when we traded tapes, but it’s different now. It’s much more disposable. I think there is a whole generation of kids that doesn’t even value music the way we did. Music is not treated with the respect that should be. I don’t think the whole downloading thing is good for artists.

It’s hard enough for a musician to make a living, and now it’s even harder. Now the only way you can make a living is by touring, or by selling your music for commercials, and something like that. You could make a little bit of money out of selling your music, but now this generation doesn’t feel like they have to pay for music, even though it costs money to make it. You spend your whole life doing it. Now people are going online and try to raise money for it. I think people should be paid for their art.

TP: You said that you think a lot of kids nowadays do not respect music…

PS: I don’t think the new generation values music the way we did, it is just a different timing.

Kent Stax: There are people that do, just not in general.

PS: It’s not just music, I just don’t know if the kids of today are as much involved; I don’t know if there’s interest in the world, politics, art, as there was in our generation and the generation before. They’re more interested in wearing that kind of hairstyle. It’s cool to go to a protest just because your friends are there. They’re not really doing anything.

TP: Don’t you think that if a band, or an artist, makes a good record, people will buy it anyway?

PS: I think that people that care about music would feel obligated to pay for it, but I just think in general it is not like that. People grow up expecting music to be free; “I don’t have to pay for that, I can just get it here, why would I pay for it?” It just creates a culture like that; that might change. We don’t have much; all we have is music.

Skeeter Thompson: I’m with Pete in this. It’s bad that the industry is doing this to artists. A lot of people are taking music, and musicians, for granted. It’s not like we play for being the best or something, we play because it is a passion. It’s different when you’re doing things out of necessity, or you’re doing it just for whatever; and that’s how it goes now, like downloading.

People now don’t even wanna play the whole song, they just play a part and then skip to the next song. Back in the day we would be like “check this, man!” put on the music and listen; now when people put music on, they start talking, texting…

TP: Do you think that the music industry respects music?

PS: I think there are a lot of people involved in the music industry that are the same people involved back in the days, come from the old school, and have respect for music. They treat music as a craft. Ultimately it is a business. Every era has like top 40 and pop music that is for everybody.  Most people that are in the music business are there because they love music.

TP: But we are the first era with talent shows…

PS: I don’t think there is much difference now. It’s just that today’s media is integrated in our lives in every minute. Before there was not like ‘Euro vision’, the entire world was not watching these. There are just more people watching TV, and now TV is like the church. It’s so crazy, because kids wanna be like that, and what’s more important to the people that want to be in the show is, like, losing weight, or dancing, or whatever. They don’t wanna be that fat person on TV, and that is sad. All you wanna do is be that one on TV. This keeps everyone kind of medicated.

TP: Where do you see Scream in three years?

PS: I don’t know, I really don’t know. I hope we’ll make another record. The most important thing was to get back together, make some music, and say something now. During the shows we play the old stuff and the new stuff. I wanna keep playing music for the rest of my life, in one way or another, that’s for sure. Music is my life.

Clint Walsh: I think there’s a really good reaction to the new songs, and to all the songs. There is a broader range of age; there are more kids than, speaking for myself, I would have thought.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/acidally/

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The Washington D.C. hardcore seminal band Scream recently returned to the music scene, after breaking up in 1990. Considered one of the benchmark bands in the history of the D.C. hardcore music movement, the band told Toonari Post that they thought about reuniting for a long time, but due to organizational problems, as the band members are dedicated to their families and live in different parts of the U.S., the project was on hold.

Finally, in 2009, Scream came back together with a live performance in D.C. and in 2011, the band released the amazing EP ‘Complete Control Sessions’, produced by Side One Dummy; they then started touring the U.S. and Europe.

Scream expressed the hope of releasing a new album, in ‘LP mode;’ although they have already started working on new material, there is no time frame for the release of a new album yet.

The band is now composed of the original line-up, frontman Pete Stahl, guitarist Franz Stahl, bassist Skeeter Thompson, and drummer Kent Stax, with the addition of a new guitarist, Clint Walsh.

Toonari Post had the chance to meet with Scream in Vienna, Austria, during their European tour.

The show brought on stage the spontaneous energy and positive attitude that has always characterized the band; the set-list mainly focused on the first two albums, ‘Still Screaming’ and ‘This Side Up’, both released in the ‘80s, with the addition of the new material from 2011.

Scream’s music is available for purchasing in the major digital platforms.

Toonari Post (TP): Your lyrics have always had strong political and social connotations. What is the bottom line message you hope to send with your music? Has the way you see the world changed in the last 30 years?

Pete Stahl (PS): Ah well not really, as a lot of songs right now have still kind of the same themes and subject matters. In a way, our music is always about being positive about life, being aware of what is going on around, and then having a good time in your life.

TP: In one of the songs of the new EP, “The Year Bald Headed Singers Were In”, you have a line about punk rock being dead again in 2011. What do you think about the state of rock in general in this moment?

PS: I think there is a lot of great music out there, but I don’t think there are a lot of bands that really care about what they stand for, or that really have anything to say, other than be really musically talented. They express it that way, which is fine; it’s just not where I come from as a singer. ‘The Year Bald Headed Singers Were In’ is a funny song, but it means something too, in a humorous way, and it is a good hardcore song.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s really important to music today. I don’t know if I can put my finger on it, but I think that the amount of ways available to people to communicate to each other seems to make things more superficial, less important. It is unfortunate, because I think that all the powers that control this world like people to be more preoccupied with something else; like that, the world can turn the way they want to.

TP: Which role do you think music covers nowadays in the society?

Skeeter Thompson (ST): Well, it has always been a cry for freedom. It has always been awareness, and communication.

PS: I think the main thing about music is communication. People communicate with each other; it’s a way for musicians to communicate their feelings and their ideas to people. It brings people together. It’s a language that goes from the musicians on stage and back.

ST: It’s how people actually see things; I mean their feelings, their emotions, and people’s problems.

TP: The last Rock ‘revolution’ took place 20 years ago, with the raise of grunge. Do you feel that nowadays there is a community growing with a strong identified approach to rock, as happened for you in D.C. in the 80s with hardcore punk, and as happened for the last time in Seattle, with grunge, 20 years ago?

PS: I think you always have new explosions here and there in music. I mean it’s not like grunge was some new way of playing rock and roll. It was more a reaction to hair metal, and a new access to rock; but it suddenly turned into Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains, which is kind of the same thing, just dressed down.

I’m sure there will be one, you just never know where it comes from. I mean, people are making music these days by exchanging files, and I don’t think music is made by exchanging files. Rock ’n’ roll is basically three chords, and melody, and melody; I think there will always be someone who will reinvent it, and touch people’s hearts and minds. That always happened.

TP: Being Dave Grohl’s first professional band, you are often associated with Nirvana and Foo Fighters. How do you feel about that, as you play a different kind of music?

PS: It’s just the way it is. We were very lucky that we found Dave, and he played drums for us, and he was very lucky to play with us, or he wouldn’t have had Nirvana. I don’t have a problem with that; it also helps us out, like people know about Scream out of their success. We come from a very small scene, a very small gender.

The D.C. hardcore scene it’s a very cool scene; I’m proud of being part of it and Dave is part of it. The only thing that bothers me is when people just don’t know anything about us, and just want to hear of Dave when talking to us. We were a band before Dave was in the band, and he would be the first person to tell you that.

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