I
f you aren’t already aware of Backtrack, it means you miss a lot from today’s hardcore scene. Backtrack from New York is probably one of the best & let’s say ‘famous’ bands in the recent years. I talked with Ricky about the band, the label he is involved and his fanzine, Moment Of Truth.
Our current line-up is James on the mic, Me & Chris Smith on the Guitars, Danny Smith on Bass, and Little Steve on Drums. Me, James, and Chris have been in the band since the beginning basically. Danny is Chris’ little bro and hopped on around 2 years ago. Little Steve just started playing with us last year but he’s a great fit for us and a great drummer. Although it is fun sometimes and gives a different vibe every tour when you have different friends filling in, we’re looking to keep this the stable line-up long term. You definitely did see Ruben w/ us before, he’s filled in a few times and is truly one of my favourite people in the world and my little brother. As for bands, Little Steve plays in Lost Souls (their new record rocks), and fills in for Malfunction sometimes. I play in another band called Manipulate who just released a new EP this year and I’m working on another project also that should be ready later this year maybe.
www.backtracknyhc.com www.facebook.com/BacktrackNYHC Hey Ricky! Nice to have you on board. What’s going on in the Backtrack’s HQ? Yoo! What’s going on? Right now Backtrack is laying low. We have 2 shows in NY, we’re playing a benefit show for the passing of a dear friend Rob Mcallister, with a very influential Long Island band, Silent Majority. We’re also playing Bane’s last NYC show ever. 2 shows that are very important to us as a band and ones that we are very excited for. We’ve recently announced a European Tour for the summer where we’ll be playing some cool festivals we’ve never played before along with some club dates w/ our bros in Turnstile and UK dates w/ our bros Higher Power. We may be setting up a few US shows also but right now the main priority is a new LP.
It’s been almost 2 years since ‘Lost In Life’ was released. Meanwhile, you’ve toured constantly, playing almost everywhere in the world. Any plans for a new Backtrack release? Yeah we definitely toured harder than we ever did before with Lost In Life. As for a new release… we have a ton of material right now, around 25 songs worth of demos. We’ll hopefully start pre-production on a new LP in May. Nothing else I can really say about it just yet, besides that these songs are coming out great so far. Musically it’s some of my favourite stuff we’ve done.
What’s your current line up? It’s seems there’s only 3 stable members in Backtrack. Will you continue this way and keep using session members? I remember seeing you with Ruben from Take Offense a couple of times. By the way, some of you are also playing in other well known bands, please give some info to our readers.
You are also involved in Flatspot Records & Moment Of Truth fanzine, right? Give us
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