ROTTING OUT

INTERVIEW WITH SINGER WALTER DELGADO BY CALEB R. NEWTON

The members of the fierce Los Angeles-area hardcore band Rotting Out grew up embedded in the city’s heavy music community. On their new album, Ronin, they’ve catapulted these sounds into a new era. Out now via Pure Noise Records, Rotting Out’s new album features ferociously punching hardcore, with the band wheeling out fierce riffing designed to leave a mark - literally, if you’re lucky enough to catch the band live. Vocalist Walter Delgado explains that the band kept the live experience in mind when developing their new record.

“Writing this record, there were these two rules that I had in my head,” Delgado explains. “Would a punk kid still listen to this song? Or, would this be boring live? So, I made sure that these songs, once they’re portrayed live, still kind of carry that energy, that aggression, and that same essence that they do on the CD, or on the record. Because hardcore is all about the live shows, personally. I think you can’t be a hardcore kid just being stuck in your room and listening to records all the time. If you’re not going to shows and kind of getting your hands in it, you’re not really a part of the scene, personally. So, when it comes to what we write, we want it to translate to live shows and have that same energy, like punches in the face.”

That sought-after energy is abundantly clear on Ronin, although Rotting Out ground their relentless onslaught in a carefully strengthened, melodic backbone. The meaty guitar riffing, super heavy bass, and cacophony from the drums all feel grounded in endless forward propulsion. In other words, the band don’t just pack pure chaos, although there’s certainly plenty ea luminaries like Black Flag and of raw energy to go around. Pennywise. Delgado also adds Delgado explains the band’s hardcore scene for inspiration for modus operandi as “a very tradihis own performances. tional, L.A. street punk approach, complemented by heavier riffs “I usually try to think outside the that are kind of derived from New box a little more, outside of tradiYork hardcore.” tional hardcore,” he explains. “So

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN RAWE The band’s background also informs their songwriting big time. “When it comes to writing music, we already kind of have an idea of what we want to represent, and what we want to sound like, which is very, you know, at home, and very traditional,” Delgado explains. “We try to be very much rooted to the history of hardcore and hardcore punk.” In developing the sound for Rotting Out’s first full-length album in seven years, Delgado shares that the group took cues from L.A.-arthat he often looked beyond the maybe I’ll be listening to something like the Deftones, or even Nirvana, things like that, which I grew up listening to, and I’d want to incorporate little by little. Or even Rage Against the Machine, where it’s a different kind of approach to writing music, or just the vibe of the song specifically. We’d add these little toppings of other aspects of music.” Ultimately, setting the stage for memorably gripping shows isn’t the only aspect that weighed on Rotting Out while developing

Ronin. Delgado explains that the band also hoped to showcase the personally gripping core that helped fierce hardcore catch on in the first place.

“I’m very stoked for people to hear it, and for it to finally be out,” he shares, explaining that he’s looking forward to hearing other people’s reactions.

“Even if it’s negative, I want to know why. I even like offending people, in that sense, where people are almost mad that they don’t like our record, where it’s like getting under people’s skin - I like it. But also, it’s for the kid that goes to that hardcore show and is going to be stoked to see these new songs live. It’s meant to speak to that new fan on a different platform, more than just punching each other in the �� �� ��

face, and moshing, and whatnot.”

Growing up in L.A., the members of Rotting Out latched onto some classic groups from the area, like Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Terror, and Internal Affairs. As for music from the East Coast, vocalist Walter Delgado also names the Massachusetts groups Stop and Think, Slapshot, In My Eyes, and Bane.

Personally, Delgado also cites John Joseph of the N.Y.C.-area group Cro-Mags, H.R. from D.C.’s Bad Brains, and Ray Cappo from Connecticut’s Youth of Today among those he “really admired growing up.”

“I was more amped on hardcore bands that had like a faster sound, a more aggressive sound, sometimes even a more melodic sound,” he explains.

Some more recent bands that have caught Delgado’s attention include the Massachusetts group Restraining Order, and the NorCal group Drain. The latter actually has a unique personal connection to Rotting Out, as Drain’s vocalist went to the same high school that Delgado attended. As he explains, he’s stoked to see their success.

INTERVIEW WITH SINGER JASON HALLBY NICHOLAS SENIOR

The record’s theme is all about incremental, important small acts of kindness. He laughs when the infamous Keanu Reeves film is brought up.

Most good for the most peogestures of kindness and allowing ple. Be decent, less evil.” incremental change to take hold. For a band as verbose and In fact, so much of Frail Bray feels intellectual as Western Addiction, indebted to the idea of existing in you wouldn’t expect their album’s the middle of things, of being the theme to boil down to a winking Motörhead of modern music. Frail reference to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Bray straddles all worlds, but exists Adventure, but that’s the first of in one – hints of thrash, Southern many delightful surprises to be rock, ’80s rock, and hardcore all found within Frail Bray. are filtered through Western Addiction’s unique lens. All these exSan Francisco’s hardcore punk cursions become part of the unified heroes have been politely raging musical picture Frail Bray paints, as against the machine for over 17 vocalist Jason Hall notes. years now, but it’s on Western Addiction’s third record where every“When I started the band, I didn't thing comes together in a truly perknow what kind of music would fect way. come out. That sounds so dumb, but it's like, oh, my body just hapFrail Bray, out May 15 via Fat Wreck, pens to play traditional hardcore finds the group’s insightful and gorin a modern way, and I'm not a geous lyrics marrying majestically fantastic musician either, so I have with a vision of hardcore punk that limitations, but I think it actually finds the midpoint between heavy and hooky. Western Addiction is all about building bridges rather than burning them. You don’t motivate people by screaming at them to be like you (though Jason does a lot of face screaming in the live setting), you transform them by showing little works as a benefit because I believe songs should be short. I believe they should be interesting. I believe they should be memorable. I have all these metrics for what I think a song should do. But I do like all those things. I love metal. I love thrash. I love rock ’n’ roll.”

As it relates to his life, Hall revels in being part of various different worlds without being defined by any of them.

“I skateboarded when I was kid, but I was never a skater. I worked at a punk label for 11 years, but I don't look like that. I embrace the goodness and the ideals of it, the hope of it, but I don't have a mohawk or anything, you know what I mean? And I've been a parent for a really long time, and that's also kind of why I've had to live in a double world.” “Definitely, Bill and Ted's. Yeah, I mean, I think about it a lot. I think about the world a lot, and I can't not think about it. And of course, right now we're in a glaring example of how the world is under stress and duress. But I tried to see the silver lining this time because I didn't the last time.”

Hall expands on how this incremental effect can manifest. “People are always asking how they can change the world. You can do something every day. You can just respect people. It doesn't mean you have to walk around jolly all the time, but just show everyone the basic respect.”

Thankfully, there are so many fantastic lyrical and musical nuggets to digest, that Frail Bray will happily serve as a hefty intellectual meal for any discerning listeners. For those who like to think and headbang, this is basically nirvana. �� �� ��