Menace And The Hellfire By John Bis
On September 14, 2010 I sat down with Dennis Zyla (lead vocals, songwriting) and Ed Mulcahy (drums) of Menace And The Hellfire for an interview. If you don’t know who they are, well you should… What do you think about the skate scene these days? (DZ) The skate scene today is pretty much terrible compared to what it was back in my day. It was more of an outlaw, independent, type of escape but today it’s more of a jock, herd type of attitude. There may be some exceptions to that rule obviously… Then it was more about individualism, you get a skate board and skate for yourself and it kind of went hand in hand with punk rock, more of an outsider mentality. Today there’s more of a herd mentality and it’s more like a sport and everyone’s judging every single move you make and it’s more like, competitive and a sport than it is lifestyle anymore. When was the last time you skated? (DZ) I actually skated about 3 weeks ago with Eddie and I almost ripped my ACL and he basically broke his tail bone and we’ve been out of commission since. We’re not really big vert and ramp guys so it’s probably like the 3rd time we’ve been to a skate park. I know kids today are spoiled with these skate parks but back in the day we would kill to have a launch ramp but it is what it is. What was the first board you ever had? (DZ) It was probably the Executioner by Nash. The thing was probably heavier than me. My first serious board was a hand me down from my neighbor, the Vision’s old Ghost. I cherished that board even though I had many boards to follow. (EM) My first board was a Nash, Skate Or Die and it was fully loaded. My first legit board was a Santa Cruz Slasher that I got for my 12th Christmas from the store, Freestyle in the Woodbridge Mall. Who were some of your favorite skaters? (EM) I always liked Mark Gonzalez, Natas Kaupas, Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk. Most people today aren’t as relevant to skating as these guys were back when I started to skate. (DZ) Didn’t have many favorites back in the day but I always related to the guys who were like the most fucked up looking dudes. The kind of people that no one wanted to be around. Christian Hosoi, Gator those types of guys. Do you think Gator is going to hell? (DZ) Hell is on earth right now first of all. Second of all, we all get a little excited sometimes and things can get out of hand and you gotta do what you gotta do right (laughs)? How do you feel about the mall-ification of tattoo parlors and skate shops? (DZ) It’s terrible there’s no more sub culture, there’s no more underground, no more escape for kids. There’s something not right about being able to get your nipples pierced, get a cheap skate board and a Cinnabun all at the same time What is it about your music that makes it such a good fit with the skate culture? 18
(DZ) Our music is pure, real and raw. It brings you back to the old school approach of skateboarding to music. Though we can’t really relate to the skateboarding that goes on today our music is still aggressive enough that anyone can skate to it, especially our drum extravaganza. What bands inspire you to play music? (DZ) Believe it or not a lot of hard core bands. A lot of rock and roll bands. My favorite band of all time is the Sex gardenstateskate.com