The Riot Before!

http://www.myspace.com/theriotbefore
http://theriotbefore.tumblr.com/
http://www.quoteunquoterecords.com/qur014.htm

Record Label:

Paper + Plastick

http://www.myspace.com/paperandplastick
http://paperandplastick.com/

Members:

Brett Adams - Lead Vocals in lynyrd skynryd/Guitar
Jon Greeley - Lead Guitar/Vocals
Cory Manning - Bass/Vocals
Freddy Clark - Drums

The Riot Before-Это панк группа из Ричмонда,Вирджиния.На данный момент выпустили 3 полноценных альбома и 3 Ер.Группа образовалась в конце 2003 года,Брэтт на тот момент был единственным участником и сочинил несколько акустических песен,разместив осенью 2004 года их для бесплатного скачивания.Позже он пригласил друзей из предыдущей своей группы(Fly By Night)для записи первого альбома "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades",который уже был выпущен осенью 2005 года.Так же осенью 2005 года после окончания колледжа Брэтт переезжает в Ричмонд.Восемь месяцев он искал людей,чтобы сделать вместе группу.В апреле 2008 года в состав вошли Garrett Berneche(гитара),Cory Manning(бас) и Freddy Clark(ударные).

Летом 2007 года они выпускают Ер "So Long the Lighthouse" и сплит с Broadway Calls.После тура в 2008 году группу покидает гитарист Garrett.На май уже было забронировано время в студии на запись второго альбома.Оставалось совсем мало времени,чтобы найти нового гитариста и разучить с ним материал к записи.Сразу же Cory пригласил своего старого друга Jon Greeley,которого знал больше 10 лет и вместе играли в группе "Your Fellow Rebels"!Jon сразу влился в группу и 8 мая был записан второй альбом.(First Buried in Pockets)

В 2010 году группа подписала контракт с лэйблом Paper+Plastick Records и выпустила свой третий по счёту альбом "Rebellion".Для меня это один из лучших альбомов 2010 года.

Кто ещё не успел послушать их,то вы должны обязательно это сделать!

Интервью с Брэттом Адамсом:

1. Hello Brett! How are you?What are you listening to right now? 

-Hey Vanya, I’m doing well.  Right now I’m sitting at a coffee shop by my house and I’m listening to Tom Waits.  

2. Please tell me briefly the history of your band and about present members of the band.

Tell me some words about the previous music projects that you and other members in your band had before.

-The Riot Before started sometime in late 2003 but really didn’t get going until a couple years later when I moved from Southern California to Richmond, Virginia.  It was then that the band acquired full-time members and began touring heavily.  Cory and Freddy were a part of that original group, while Jon, our current guitarist, joined a few months before Fists Buried in Pockets was recorded.  He replaced Garrett, who quit when our old van’s transmission broke on the very last night of an otherwise successful tour.  Jon and Cory used to be in a pretty good stoner rock band called Your Fellow Rebels, which I actually saw live a few times before I met those guys.  I’m not sure what Freddy’s old band was called, but I am pretty sure it was some sort of bad pop-punk.  I sang for a brief time in a band called Fly By Night, but wasn’t really involved in that band beyond my duties at the microphone.  The Riot Before is really the only band I’ve been in where I was the songwriter.   

3.I think the most important question for every peoples interested in The Riot Before is when you are going to release a new record(ep,may be new album)?

I have only now begun the very long process of writing for a new record and that probably won’t be finished for another year.  We’d like to release something short like an EP or a split this year, but there probably won’t be another full-length until sometime in 2012. 

4.I know all the bandmembers of the riot before are working in restaurants.Why restaurants?

We do indeed all work in restaurants.  We have never made any money in this band and when we’re home we have to work a lot to support it and ourselves.  In general, restaurant work tends to be the most flexible and allow us our jobs back after a number of weeks or months of touring.  I personally really enjoy working in restaurants and probably will continue to do so when I stop touring one of these days. 

5.there have been 2 years between the last lp and "rebellion". what happened for the band in this 2 years?

We just played a whole bunch of shows.  That’s pretty much it.  

6.Why did you name the album "Rebellion"?

-The title comes from a line in Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, which when translated into English is: One can hardly live in Rebellion, and I want to live.  That line sums up how I’ve felt over the last few years.  I have found rebellion to be a valuable part of a life, but incredibly empty when pursued as a lifestyle.  Rebellion, after all, is simply disassembling something you or someone else has built.  It’s saying no.  And a life of only tearing down things and saying no is a really empty life.  The title was designed to be understood alongside the album artwork.  On the front there’s word rebellion in orange above a very cliché riot scene.  I wanted it to look really typical punk.  But then when you open the record up it reveals the entire quote and you see the aftermath of the riot, a destroyed city.  In the corner is one person kneeling down and slowly rebuilding alone.  Then when you pull out the lyrics they are on blueprints.  And that’s what this record is about.  Its focus is on the long and difficult process of deciding who you actually are after you’ve decided what you aren’t.  It’s about learning to be vulnerable and open instead of calloused and angry.  

6.I know recently you had a tour of Europe.What is your most memorable?

Do you try to go out and see things when you are in different cities?

It’s impossible to pick out one particular moment in Europe as the most memorable.  I think it’s safe to say that our last trip over in November was my favorite tour we’ve ever done.  I had an incredible time.  As for sightseeing, we don’t really get a chance to do much of it.  Touring is a great way to meet wonderful people all over the world, but it’s a really bad way to see the sights.  There is such limited free time and it’s really difficult to split up or get everyone organized and to various tourist destinations.  If we have a few free hours before the show I always try to wander around a bit and see what’s in the neighborhood.  Sometimes I stumble across some really cool stuff.  One of these days I’d like to head back to the places we played and just hang out.  

7.How do you determine what songs off of the newer album "rebellion" you are going to play? 

We normally pick our favorite songs to play.  If someone makes a request we’ll play that, and if one particular song gets requested a lot we end up adding it to the set on a more regular basis.  That’s what happened with the song Tinitus.  We didn’t really plan on playing it much but so many people requested it that now we play it nearly every show.  

8.For a lot of kids, punkrock is associated with a vegetarian lifestyle or the fight for animal rights. You often celebrate on shows that you love to eat a whole pork/pig on one day and you hates cats etc. its that a kind of provocation/game with a scene-cliche or just a way to make fun and not take everything seriously?

I think it’s both.  I mean, punk rock is supposed to be about thwarting authority and celebrating individualism and whatnot, and over the years I think we in the band have had a good time thwarting the authority of punk rock itself.  Sometimes the scene takes itself way too seriously and is disturbingly concerned with everyone acting, looking, and thinking the same.  

I was a vegetarian for a time there but I eventually gave it up because I was getting really into cooking and I didn’t want to limit myself, and I began to believe that abstinence wasn’t the only way to forward animal rights.  The dire conditions found in most factory farms are the way they are because it allows the operators of that business to make the most money.  If you quit eating meat it doesn’t give those business owners any incentive to change their practices, there will always be meat eaters out there.  But if you begin purchasing meat and eggs raised ethically and environmentally, and if enough people do this, then you’ve created a financial incentive for those previous unethical farmers to change their practices.  Right now there are dairies in America switching to organic because those farmers can actually make more money by doing so.  This change is happening (slowly and on a small scale, but it’s there) because consumers chose to spend extra money on organic milk.  I doubt these changes would have occurred if those same consumers started drinking soy.  When I’m not on tour I do my best to purchase local and ethically raised meat.  I’m lucky in that there are a whole host of farms around Richmond that have incredibly high standards.  

As for cats, they’re fine and all but not so great that I want my house to smell like their shit all the time.  Which pretty much every house with cats smells like.  Cat shit.  

9.What is a song you never get sick of hearing?why?

My Favorite Chords by The Weakerthans.  I think it is one of the best songs ever written.  I love how it manages to be incredibly intelligent without being pretentious.  It’s so simple and sympathetic and human that it resonates with me in a very deep way every single time I hear it.  Each line is deceptively dense too.  I mean, you could write a book, literally an entire book, based solely on the line “it’s such an enormous thing, to walk, to listen.”  Musically it builds when it needs to build but is secure enough that it allows itself to be simple.  Just when the same three chords could possibly get a little tiresome it changes just enough to keep it interesting but not too much as to overcomplicate anything.  

10.What do you usually try and do when you have a couple of days off back home?

First and foremost I try to get as many shifts working as I possibly can.  Next, I spend pretty much the rest of my free time cooking food and then reading about cooking food.  Yesterday I cooked for like 8 hours.  I loved it.  

11.What is something you have always wanted to do but have not done yet?

Learn to speak Spanish.  I desperately need to do this.  

12.Do you like reading printed fanzines? 

I don’t think any of us read fanzines actually.  I’ll thumb through an issue of Razorcake or AMP, especially if my friend’s bands are featured, but generally I get enough punk rock in my diet that I don’t read about it.  If I’m reading it’s normally novels or cookbooks.

13.Could you also tell me of your local scene in Richmond and recommend me some new/young local bands?

The scene in Richmond is strange.  It’s almost too full of good bands and most of those bands break up after like 5 shows, so it’s really hard to keep track of what’s happening, especially since I’m out of town pretty much half of the year.  Most of the bands I know about are bands we play with on tour.  For example, if you haven’t listened to Red City Radio, you should.  Same with The Great Explainer.  There’s a cool band called Sundials from Richmond.  Also the Catalyst is great and they tour Europe at least once a year.  Oh, and we played with a band called Flechette that was really good.  

14.Which punk releases in 2010 did you like best?

I really liked records by The Flatliners and The Menzingers.  

15.What are your plans for the 2011?

Tour and write.  Eat and drink.

16.Do you know anything about Russian music scene (maybe some bands).?Do you want to visit our country?

I honestly don’t know a thing about the Russian music scene.  I have heard playing shows there is incredible.  We’d love to tour Russia and hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to one of these days.  

17.What would you like to wish to russian punks?

I guess just thanks for listening!  It’s incredible to me that we have fans anywhere let alone Russia!  So thank you!