THE HOLLOWPOINTS UNCLE ACID &
INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST MATTY MCKINNEY BY JOHN B. MOORE Despite putting out one of the best punk albums of 2010, Old Haunts on the Horizons, many assumed the last few years of inactivity signaled the end of Seattle punks The Hollowpoints. Hell, singer and guitarist Matty McKinney was among those who assumed the band was probably D.O.A. But after some rough times—including a struggle with drugs—the band are finally back with a new record, Rocket to Rainier, out now on Sailor’s Grave Records. It’s a blistering baker’s dozen of loud, melodic punk rock singalongs, worthy of its predecessor. It’s no coincidence that the album shares a title similar to the Ramones classic, as Hollowpoints has managed to channel that same frenetic energy as their East Coast brethren. What have you guys been up to since the last record? We’ve all been through some really substantial changes in our lives. I’ve personally had to try to grow; I tried the drug thing and, as usual, that didn’t work. It never does, but that’s an area in my life that I’ve worked hard to keep those demons at bay. The record itself describes much of what we have lived through over the past five years—addiction and lost love—but also we’ve had some happiness for sure! We’ve added some new little members to the Hollowpoints family: [drummer] Dan [Colley] and [guitarist] Will [McCarthy] are fathers now and [bassist] Benny [Early] is soon to be! Did you ever consider breaking up? We did consider breaking up. Definitely, when I was walking through hell on my own, we weren’t practicing much and it seemed like this record would never get out. We finally decided to make a final stab
24
.
NEW NOISE ISSUE 21
at it. We practiced real hard, man, kinda put ourselves through musical boot camp to try to clean things up a bit. Why was now the right time to come back with a new record? Honestly, I’m not sure now is the best time. We did have a European tour that we wanted to have it for, but that was cancelled unfortunately. So, now, we are going to try to do some showcase style shows and tour a little before the year is over. What was the inspiration behind Rocket to Rainier? A lot of what I was describing before. I hope and feel like a lot of these songs are very identifiable to anyone stuck in addiction, who feels betrayed by the world, but ultimately has hope because of the real friends they have watching their back! We had a lot of fun making this thing, too. It’s really the first record where we collaborated so much in writing the songs; Ben and I even wrote most of the lyrics together, which was a new thing for us. Was this the first record you produced yourselves? Well, not exactly. We have had our hands in producing all of our music, but we have had people in the past who we looked up to make some of the calls at the board. What’s next for the band? We are excited to play out the remainder of the year. A little trip north to Canada is in the works too! I believe there’s some more domestication headed our way, so it’s hard to say exactly [laughs]. I haven’t stopped writing in the meantime, so, who knows? We might have another or more to come; it’s what we love to do.
.....
THE DEADBEATS
INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST/GUITARIST KEVIN STARRS BY TIM ANDERL Unemployed for two years and with minimal job prospects on the horizon, Kevin Starrs set his sights on making a life as a professional musician. It wasn’t long before the English rocker was sharing the stage with his musical heroes in Black Sabbath. Heavily influenced by late ‘60s psychedelia and heavy metal, the band time warps listeners to the sinister, post-flower power era when murder, the occult, corruption, and violence began to capture the attention and appetite of pop culture devotees. The band are currently in the midst of a nearly sold-out U.S. tour in support of their latest for Rise Above Records, The Night Creeper, a nail-biting opus that finds the quartet at their most malevolent, creepy, and exploratory. What artistic works have had the most profound impact on you as you’ve grown into adulthood? I guess it is just certain genres of films, really: horror films—which I started watching when I was younger—and then, moving on to film noir and stuff like that. Those sorts of things have always made an impression on me, as well as music obviously. Black Sabbath changed everything for me. As soon as I heard them, it was different than anything I’d ever heard before. Was touring with Black Sabbath intimidating experience for you? Yeah, it was pretty bizarre. But it was good when we got used to the whole thing, playing on such a large stage to so many people. In some ways, it was just like playing any other gig. You can’t really see the audience too well, because it is so dark out there. The only difference is that you’re so far away from each other. Once we got used to it, it was fine. That has to be a pretty big milestone for a project that you started by self-recording in your own home?
Yeah, we never thought that would ever happen. We just had some songs and thought, “Let’s get into the garage and record some stuff.” I never ever thought that we’d even play any gigs. Then, eventually, it all just took off. What was your creative process for uncovering The Night Creeper’s narrative? Just watching films. There was nothing in particular that inspired it, but just absorbing the whole genre of film noir—watching that over and over again, watching how it was framed, and the shadows… That triggered my imagination of a shadowy character who is The Night Creeper. So, it was a pretty deliberate process? You were trying to entrench yourself in things that would spark your imagination? Exactly. That’s exactly it. I also picked up collections of old pulp collections and copies of Black Mask magazine, just real trashy pulp detective books. Then, there were other things as well, more violent versions of film noir. Once I had the influence, it was just waiting for the music to come. Violence is a prevalent theme in your work. Do you believe people are still shocked by violence or are we all pretty desensitized? I think we really love it now. It has become like an addiction or a sugary treat or something. We need more violence and we need to watch it on TV all the time. We’ve been completely desensitized to it and need to have it in front of our faces constantly. That’s what you get when you look in the newspaper. It is all about violence and hate, and it is just giving people what they want, really.
.....