Interview with Casper from KDC

This is going to be the first interview I have done for my awesome hardcore blog. What better way to do your first interview with one of your best friends. Well Casper is the singer for Puerto Rico's KDC. One, if not the best current Puerto Rican bands (and latin american to say the least). So pretty much a standard interview where one dude asks questions, and the other guy answers them:

Me: First Question. OK, Why are you called KDC and not Konfesiones De Changuiro, o Knock Down Crew, which are better names than KDC by itself?.

Casper: Hahahahha, my band has always been Las Konfesiones De Changuiro, we were never Knock Down Crew. We're KDC since I saw it in a flyer and it just stayed like that.

Me: Well, I was told it was called like that (Knock Down Crew). And that's what I saw in some places.

Casper: It's easier hahahaha. if you talk with Sammy it's called like that.

Me: It's called like what? Knock Down Crew or Konfesiones? I'm telling you, ha, I saw it in myspace! Anyway, why do you always wear a cap?

Casper: I love caps. I only take it off to rock out, and I hate combing my hair.

Me: I hear ya. You think La Parka is better than me at Street Fighter 4?

Casper: maybe. He's a killer on all that shit.

Me: I know KDC has done a couple tours in the US. Why now the change to one of the coldest places in the whole country?

Casper: Man, long story short. It's cheap living, and we have tons of people we know over here.

Me: Was that "long story short" a "Dirty Work" reference? What do you think about that movie?

Casper: Hahaha. Dirty Work is fucking funny, but I was not doing a reference.

Me: You never answered the question about Sammy. But now, cliche hardcore fanzine question. What are KDC plans now that you relocated to the cold? And if you can explain to me what is the "cold" I am talking about, I'd appreciate it.

Casper: Sammy wanted the band to have generic hc name and he tried changing our acronyms, which ment Konfesiones De Changuiro, so he started promoting it as Knock Down Crew without our consent, and it sucked. A total different approach from what we wanted.

Me: If it was in myspace like that, I take it as official...

Casper: Nope, Sammy had the password. Like I said. No consent.

Me: ok, i hope he reads the interview.

Casper: me too.

(note* WE LOVE SAMMY)

Me: Ha, and about the plans?.

Casper: Just trying to do some touring. More than PR lets us do geografically. It's hard so we decided to move to Buffalo.

Me: Cool. Cafe Yaucono o Starbucks?.

Casper: Yaucono. I don't drink it. I don't really drink coffee, but that's the one my mom used to drink. I guess it goes.

Me: Now this is the end of the interview. Final thoughts.

Casper: always. Listen to Los B. so you can shit hair. If you can catch KDC in a US show do it. I will let you in for free.


He didn't lie about taking his cap off to rock out. This picture is proof.

One More Summer - Discography

Well this is the One More Summer discography. This blog I run, and rarely update has never been known to put any links for downloading records because I usually am not a fan of downloading music. I am not gonna say that I don't do it, cause that would be hypocritical, but I want this blog to be more like an online zine. Anyway I it's my blog, and I will break the rules.

One More Summer started in the summer months of the year 2002, by my friend and brother Felix, and I. But the story really starts some years earlier. Around 1997.

He and I had previously been 2 other bands together, not for a long time. The first one was Espantajo, which was sort of a weird Nu-Metal band, that no one really wanted to play the same style. And ended breaking up after some shows, but actually like 3 years after it's inception. Actually during the time I was in Espantajo, Felix, who played bass decided to quit the band. But asked me if I wanted to play more of a punk rock style similar to MxPx, blink-182 and pennywise. Bands I was really into.

I knew he liked that style of bands, him previously been in the ska-core band Viuda Negra. So we decided to start that "side project". We needed a bassist, and Felix's girlfriend at the time Dennisse was our bassist. We started having some band practices and some really cool songs started popping out. And we decided to add a new guitar player, that's when Josue came into the band. He used to be in this band called Bad Influence. But the whole idea of him traveling a lot for practice kinda didn't work for him. So he quit the band before we even had a show. This band was called Pre-Shrunk, because of a sticker Felix had in his guitar. It looked cool so we named it like that.

Ironically that band's first (and final) show came my senior year of high school, right when I had already decided to go to school in the United States. It was at a environmental rally sponsored by the P.I.P. which our bassist's dad was a part of, and we also agree with their political views so we played. We played with like a peruvian music group, and no one else, at the city square, It was awful, and we only had four songs for a 30 min set. Most awkward show I have ever played.

Anyway, when I came back that december from winter break, me and Felix kept talking about the band, and we wanted to play a more aggressive style. While still keeping some of the old songs. That's when he and I started jamming some of the songs that went on to be One More Summer. We got inspired by bands like Ten Yard Fight, Tropiezo, Stretch Arm Strong, Comeback Kid, H2O and Pennywise. A slightly more melodic side of the hardcore equation. We didn't have a bass player, and Adiel a.k.a. Satan, who sung in Espantajo, also Felix's brother, played bass, so he joined the band. Now we needed a singer.

Originally the plan to have as a singer was going to be Chepi, from the band Kabezudos de Villabajo, and we had talked to him, and he agreed. But as we all know kind of what the mystique of Kabezudos, was that they were famous for not showing up. So that was it, haha. Then we talked to Felix's friend Tommy. Former singer for the band Abortados. We had our first practices and everything went really well, everything took shape. Althought that first batch of songs from the demo I have to add that were songs that Felix and I completely wrote, including lyrics. After that it was Tommy's lyrics (except give and take which I came up with the idea). We were a 4 piece for a while, but our friend Carlos, who also was in Abortados with Tommy came to our practices and shows, and we knew he was a good guitar player, so we asked him to join the band. He did, and it was pretty much the best thing we could have asked for.

Our first show we played in Arecibo, at a weird sports bar with Nothing 2 Face, Deathwosh Bronson, and some other band I dont remember (and I booked that show). It was alright. After that we played our real first westside show with Enaguas de Chavola, and it was great, people liked it, and it was the start of something good. We recorded a demo, and started playing shows, and it was good. We played more shows, and we made lots of friends, some of the friends that we have to this point still.

After I decided to stay full time in the US, so we do not really play shows like we used to, every summer and winter, but whenever I am in the Island, we still play!

Download here!

01 - En El Recuerdo
02 - We're True To This
03 - Luchando
04 - Fake Pride
05 - The Compromise
06 - La Decisión Es Tuya
07 - Together
08 - Give And Take
09 - The Compromise (Versión 2006)

Madball - "Empire"

01. Invigorate
02. Danger Zone
03. Timeless
04. All Or Nothing
05. Glory Years
06. Empire
07. Shatterproof (feat. Roger Miret)
08. The End
09. Con Fuerza
10. R.A.H.C.
11. Hurt You
12. “Tough Guy”
13. Dark Horse
14. Spider’s Web
15. Delete
16. Rebel4life18

Motherfuckin' Madball. I mean, I will start by saying that if you consider yourself a hardcore kid, and you don't like Madball, you pretty much don't like hardcore. Well this is the follow up to 2007's "Inflitrate The System." And I know that about 90% of people thought that that record was sort of a letdown. I thought so, I mean, after seeing them play this year's Black And Blue Bowl, and they played some of the songs live, I thought about giving that record a new try, and well, I have to admit as much as I love Madball with all my heart, the only good songs were the ones they played live. Back to this new record, there's been a lot of buzz. New drummer (in the recording, because we all know how that ended), done with the guy that did Cannibal Corpse stuff, and pretty much since Terror's "Keepers Of The Faith", there are actually high expectations on this particular release.

Well, the first song Invigorate, is actually a pretty legit good track. Way better than any song on the last record, and I really like the words, kind of dissing mainstream music, something which I am all about. The second song is called Danger Zone, not bad, not outstanding, but Big L had a song called Danger Zone so I give them that. A lot of the songs in this record are in my humble opinion good hardcore songs. The lyrics are pretty good, but there's something about it, it doesn't fill me as much as some of the older records (apart from Inflitrate).

There is this song called Shatterproof which features Roger Miret, and man, that song would have been so much better without him, that would have been the track of the record if it wasn't for that.

One thing I really like about this record tho, is that they made two songs in Spanish. And I like this trend they have been doing a Spanish song in every record. I have this conspiracy theory that they want to do a Latin American tour to only play the Spanish songs. I actually think that those two tracks are actually the best ones in the record, regardless of the language, it just happens to be that those are my favorite tracks. (Con Fuerza, Spider's Web). Then there is this song "Tough Guy" which is actually pretty awesome, will say my third favorite. The last song of the record is a really personal song for them, as it is dedicated to Hoya's wife, that passed away. Which is very sad, and my condolences. Sometimes those songs are too personal, and I kind of feel awkward listening to them, but like hardcore is supposed to be, a way to let out the pain.

The lyric writing in this record is really well done by Freddy. It's a very mature record. And it's a very positive album, and the message is always there as usual. I may not put it at the top of their releases, but it is definitely a couple notches above Infiltrate The System, and I would dare to say at-par with Legacy. Only thing that really do not like about the album is the art. And even thought it doesn't (in my opinion) top Keeper's Of The Faith in awesomeness, I will still put this record as top 5 favorite releases this year.

A Great Day For Music

Today was one of those days, that I just woke up and I had like a feeling I wanted to listen to music, whatever type of music. I just want to discover new stuff, learn some history about it, and also come up with musical ideas, since i am a musician.

I went to my lastfm account, and one of those things I love to do is to just go to a certain artist I like, and just play it's "radio station" to see what comes up. I remember some months back, maybe it even was last year, I came across Leadbelly. Like this type of really early Blues artist, and his biography said the dude spent most of his life in and out of jail. In my opinion, that's pretty fucking hardcore. Straight up hardass, and being a black dude, in the early 1900s wasn't an easy task, so this dude was legit hard. Anyway, I listened to his music again, and got stoked up again on that genre, the old folk, country, blues type deal, which is actually one of my favorite music genres.

Then the relationship of the black people from south, to a lot of these artists, made me decide to check one of the stations of one of the latino's greatest Tito Puente's station. If you are into music, of any kind, and you don't know who Tito Puente is, you pretty much can call it quits. Anyway, I rediscovered a lot of artists I knew about, and even found about some I didn't know, and some I only heard of. And as much as I like old country blues folk, or whatever you wanna call it, Salsa, and latin jazz are just better (at least in my opinion).

This lead me to check out some of the stuff that some of my teachers in school (college) always told me to check. Well, i started with the obvious, John Coltrane. So that led me to re-encounter the name of Miles Davis, one of the most influential jazz music composers-slash-performers. Finally got a chance to listen clearly (not a bad college-ensemble-performance ) of music by Duke Ellington, and got introduced to Thelonius Monk. And that part of the day ruled.

It was already afternoon, and I needed some food, so I went out to eat. After, I met up with couple of my friends, and I wanted to get the new Madball record that came out Tuesday, so we went to the record store. I got the Madball record... looked around, and decided I wanted to get records for a lot of the artists I was listening to earlier, and even trying to find some cheap stuff, just to expand my music library.

These are the things I ended up with:
Madball - "Empire" (will be reviewing it soon)
Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue"
Sade - "Promise"
Oasis - "Be Here Now"
Leadbelly - "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"
Belle And Sebastian - "Write About Love"

All I have to say is that I am really happy about what I got. It feels like going to History class, but for music.

I love music, that's all I can say.

The Black Pacific - S/T

01) The System
02) When It's Over
03) Living With Ghosts
04) Time Is Not The Reason
05) Almost Rising
06) Kill Your Idols
07) Defamer
08) Ruinator
09) Put Down Your Weapons
10) No Purpose

For starters, I have to kind of introduce this band to most people. This is the band that Jim Lindberg (original singer for Pennywise) did after he left the band. The other thing about this record, is that Pennywise did stay really active after the departure of Jim, but, for some reason, Jim managed to write a record, and release it before PW did any new stuff. Well, they did announce that they are going to release a new album in 2011 (and I am really intrigued about how that record is going to be like). Anyway, this record came out a few weeks ago, but i was too busy listening to the new Terror that came out the same day, to write a review of this (and give it a good listen).

I actually came across this record by chance. I didn't really know about this band until about like 3 months ago, when I came across an interview in the internerds with Jim, and he talked about the band, and only mentioned the record coming out, not when. Then some weeks later talking to a friend of mine, I mentioned the band to him, and it happened the record was coming out like that very next week, or like even less than a week, so I went and picked it up, as soon as I could. And what I also wanted to see were Jim's guitar skills, since he's usually being just a vocalist for the last 25 years, and have never heard him play guitar, until now.

The record starts with the song The System, which is actually reminiscing of later Pennywise stuff, but rather slower, and a more rock feel, than a hardcore punk one. Melodies are really good throughout the whole record, but once he starts singing, you can see a whole different tone in his voice compared to the last PW records. He sounds like actually pumped to be doing this, rather than just doing it because he has to.

It's full of "whoa parts", and I know some people don't really like these, in the amount, of this record, but I love them, and I think they compliment the music a lot in this specific record.

There are a lot of similarities in the songwriting to what he used to do in PW, but soundwise, it's a lot darker. For example in songs like Almost Rising, you can tell. Sort of heavier, still really melodic, but like said, heavier. Makes me reminisce of 90s grunge bands, or even some of those post hardcore bands like Quicksand (not entirely, but some of the riffs). The songs that you can totally see this mostly for are Kill Your Idols, No Purpose. And I say this in the good way. Because to be honest, when I first heard it, I was kind of dissapointed in this record. It's not one of those records that I liked right away. But the more I listen to it, the more I start to like it. It's kind of addicting, and also makes you want to kind of start a band with that sound, anyway, I have always wanted to start a band like that.

So I have to say give it a listen, and I don't think you'll be dissapointed. One thing I for sure hope is that they tour. I sure wanna see this band live.

Word For Word, Wolf Whistle, Alert, Mongoloids, xRhinocerosx @ The Chop Shop, Framingham, MA

This is one of those shows, that I just happened to get to, like I would say in Spanish "de chamba". I wanted to go this show, but since a lot of people know me, I don't drive a car. My friend Casper (KDC) now played bass for xRhinocerosx, and I wanted to go to the show, mostly to hang out with him, and to see Word For Word, that I haven't seen live in ages. And good karma was good enough to let me attend this show, which ended being awesome.

I got there just as xRhinocerosx was about to go on. I had heard this band before, on the myspaces, and I always thought they were good, but never really paid much attention to it. That's pretty much it. Anyway, I support my friends and I stayed inside to see them (also cause I like to check out bands live). And I was not disappointed. I was actually pumped, this band's recording doesn't make justice to hows they sound live. A good mix of NYHC-type hardcore (well they're a new york band), but also thrashy, and metally. Which in my opinion is always a good thing. Super tight band, and really bummed I didn't have money to get anything to for a shirt or something. People need to check this band out.

After they played, The Mongoloids took the stage. Honestly I think this band is not that good. They were tight and all that, but I just can't get into this band that much. I like the real Fury Of Five though! I don't take away that they play tight and a lot of kids are into them, but I am not going to say I like a band when I really did not.

Alert was up. I really have been looking forward to see this band for a long time. I was also pumped to know they were playing this, because I had completely forgotten that they were playing this. I keep hearing good stuff about them. Well, honestly, they weren't really tight. But they were good, I think a couple more practices and it would have been awesome. They did cover Fed Up by Judge. But I mean, now that I think about it, it was pretty punk rock of them not practicing. They really did sound as advertised, raw youth crew styled hardcore influenced by the first wave of straight edge bands.

Wolf whistle was the next band on the bill, and I don't have a review for them. Because I didn't catch their set. I was listening to the new KDC EP. Which is fucking awesome, and Casper sounds like the dude from Rise Against (when that dude screams). More news about this record coming up soon.

When I was done listening to the new amazing EP that's going to take the hardcore world by storm, Word For Word was about to go on. Their set is always fun, even when it's not the tightest. They always put on an awesome show. They did cover In Control for me (thank you johnnie, i'll cover 5 yr. plan whenever you ask!) and kids went bezerk as usual.

Other things I liked about this show were the venue, and that I got a copy of a printed Fanzine from the Word For Word merch table. I got so siked that kids are doing fanzines. I got home around midnight, and before I came down to write this, I read half of the zine. I left the other part for tomorrow, when I have to wait at the train station for hours before my train.

And for those deniers and shit talkers inside the scene. Hardcore lives in 2010.

TERROR - "Keepers Of The Faith"

01. Your Enemies Are Mine
02. Stick Tight
03. Return To Strength
04. The Struggle
05. Shattered
06. You're Caught
07. Dead Wrong
08. Keepers of the Faith
09. Stay Free
10. Hell And Back
11. Only Death
12. The New Blood
13. Defiant

I have to start this way. You ever been in wait for something for so long, and then the moment arrives, and you really don't know what to do? It gives you chills, just to think that the day is here? Well, that's how i felt for pretty much most of 2010 before this record arrived. There is something about the album name that is mystic.

In the last couple years, almost three years, there have been really few records that I have or had been so pumped for. The last Hammer Bros record (Sleep Forever on Arrest Records), the H2O "Something To Prove", and actually Have Heart's "Songs to Scream At the Sun". But from all of these records, there is some aura surrounding this specific release.

Terror has made a couple changes in their lineup since their last record, recruiting Dave (singer for DTN) and a new guitar player Jordan something his last name is (i belive, and was told he was in No Warning, someone correct me if I'm wrong). But the one fact is that Terror has always been a superband. But for some reason, every change this band makes is for the better. And I will say, even though I love the fact that anyone can play hardcore, there is something always about bands that are actually talented in their instruments. So let me first start saying that this record's musicianship is outstanding.

There are few hardcore records that keep you on hook from the first track until the last one. This one is definitely one of those. I was talking to one of my older friends from work, like this 46 year old dude that I got into hardcore, but loves 80s thrash, and he was telling me "the vocals are real hardcore, but the music is metal as fuck". I cannot agree more with him. It's crazy, cause most of the riffs sound like all the 80s thrash bands I like. I could see Anthrax, Sepultura, Metallica, Suicidal, you mention it. I can even close my eyes and picture just a bunch of dudes with long hair headbanging. But even though this is metal as fuck, it's probably the best hardcore record that has come out in the last 6 years or 5 years, or whenever Suicide File's last 7" came out. (Notice I didn't mention H2O's last record, simply because they released albums in the 90s, TSF, and Terror did not).

Lyric wise it's very typical Terror. But at the same time while a lot of times you get tired of the brotherhood/betrayal thing going on, in this record it makes perfect sense. For fucks sake. IT'S NAMED AFTER FUCKING WARZONE AND RAYBEEZ. Stick Tight, one of the heaviest songs in the record is just great. The title track Keepers Of the Faith, one of the best hardcore songs of the decade already, and doubt it will be topped. The riff sounds like Def Leppard if you think about it. My favorite track of the album is New Blood. Pretty much like the text i recieved from my song defines the reason I am into hardcore and love this as much as I do, and why I am the way I am.

Legitimately this record has restored my faith and my convictions. That's all I can really say. Simply outstanding, and I take off my hat to the guys in the band.

I found these on youtbe. remember the copyrights are from century media records and terror

THE NEW BLOOD