1.
Hi, so at first can you introduce your band, members (hobbies, work ,age...)
and tell us, how you met each other?
I'm(Adam) not sure how I got to be the one
answering the questions since I have left the band, but I'll add my spin to
things and focus more the 'Original line up' which is the new 7''. Our band is
First Assault, we were made up of Boothy on Vocals, James on Guitar Jimmy on
Drums, I played bass and have since left the band. The new line-up see the
addition of good Doug on Second Guitar and Robbo on Bass. I have known Jimmy
for years, we grew up in the same neighbourhood. Boothy and James were the
same, they grew up in the same neighbourhood. We all crossed paths going to
shows in Sydney and the like. In our area there is not many people into Oi! So
everyone knows everyone very quickly. As far a work goes Boothy is an
Electrician, James is a tattooist, Jimmy is a Concretor and I'm a
Plumber/Construction Manager. As far as hobbies, we all like sinking beers
apart from that I guess it's just the stereotypical Australian shit, watching
the real Football (Rugby League) not that wog ball shit, Boothy is a good surfer,
Me and Jim go fishing pretty much every weekend, James tattoos and draws, As
for age I think it ranges from Jimmy who's about 23 to me who is 30 and the
other 2 fit somewhere in between.
2.
When and why came decision to start First Assault and why did you choose this
name?
It’s a straight rip from the White Noise Album on
Rock'o'Rama. That album is without doubt the best record to come out of
Australia, we all felt the same and decided to name the band after that.
3.
I think some of your members used to play in Blood Red Eagle and guitarist is
still playing in Doc. Evil. Have other members some experience in playing in
some bands before?
James the guitarist was playing in Doc Evil for a
while, I think he has since left because of too many commitments? James has
also played in a few old local Hardcore bands. Me and Jim had a couple of other
bands that didn’t really do anything with and First Assault Is Boothys first
band.
4.
Your split CD with Doc. Evil came out through Vital Sign Records - it is common
cooperation for Aussies bands with Japanese labels and are you satisfied with
cooperation?
I don’t think it's common for Australian bands to work
with the Japanese. Doug from Doc Evil basically arranged the whole thing, he
was all into the Japanese scene at the time. We didn’t do anything so I guess
when you put no effort into it and somebody gives you 100 odd CD's you have to
be satisfied for the cooperation. I hate that split, in my opinion none of the
songs were good enough to be recorded But like I said when you get it handed to
you on a platter - who cares!
5.
Your EP Our Way was released through This Means War from Spain...how did you
came to cooperation with them and how are you satisfied with the result?
I guess I just continued to cross paths with Toni online in various places, be it Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook. I think Tigran from that Russian band Occupation may have helped. Toni always heard our music from the early stages and was always asking for us to record for him. We never really bothered as we have a very laid back approach, After making some money from Gigs and selling CD's we decided to properly record the 4 songs as we were all very happy with the sound and the style and thought they would sit well on a 7". I approached Toni to see if he would be keen to release it and he was very committed from the beginning, the cooperation was great, We would give him very loose direction on the art and he would have to work all that out for us, which he did a great job. We are hoping to have the end result very soon, they are somewhere in transit between Spain and Australia at the moment, but from what I hear it's quality.
6.
Your sound is rough Oi! like from British bands from the 80´s...which bands
inspire you and are you preferring listening to old or to the new breed bands?
Thanks, I prefer listening to older bands, its raw and
dumb and the way it should be. Music that makes you want to quit work get a
face tattoo and sniff glue and throw straight arms to piss people off. I think
our simple rough sounds stems from the fact I have never been bothered to learn
to play bass and I held the rest of the band back haha. We would just throw a
few chords together, a few pauses, make James do a solo, throw a palm mute in
here and there and that’s the end result. I would really like to write songs
like Another Man's Poison's 'Man Enough' but don’t have the patience. New bands
for me, fail to get the authenticity of that glory days of original Oi!/RAC
That real simple music for idiots, new music seems to be concentrating on this
whole 'Street rock' and try and make everything sound as tough as possible with
heavy guitars and shit. Give me Back with a Bang era any day.
7.
Are you more into CD´s or vinyl and why?
I guess I prefer vinyl, truth of the matter I'd rather
just download it and have it on my computer for my iPod/iPhone. I did the
record collecting thing for a while, but I don’t have time these days to sit
and listen to records plus I have a 2 year old son who ruins anything of value.
I think Boothy and James are into vinyl, Jimmy just scabs all our music for his
iPod also.
8.
Can you describe the scene in your local area and tell us something about the
life in your area in general?
Yeah there isn’t one! The skinhead scene in that area
is just us, we just drink together. Sydney has a scene of punks and skins but
we couldn't really be bothered or are we involved in any way. I fucking hate
the city, I don’t go to shows or anything like that, I did it for 13 years and
can't be bothered anymore. I have a family and things like that that I need to
focus on these days. We all live within about 30mins of each other, an Area
known as Lake Macquarie. This is about 2 hours North of Sydney on the East
Coast of Australia. Life in general in our area is very relaxed and laid back.
It’s a coastal town as I said and we also have a large saltwater lake which is
why we all enjoy surfing and fishing.
9.
Can you introduce some songs from your EP to our readers in few words?
Yeah there is 4 songs - Our Way, Town of Hate, Corporal
Punishment and Pride of the Nation. All are pretty simple Oi! Songs as I
described above. We tried to get an early Skrewdriver/4Skins/Crux/ABH type feel
to the songs. All the songs don’t really carry any deep meaning lyrically -
just the usual shit about being a dickhead around town, patriotic, drinking,
fighting - you all know the story
10.
What about the gigs in Australia...it is difficult for skinhead band to find
the place for playing a gig?
Nah, generally speaking the average venue owner wouldn’t know or care about a skinhead from the next freak. We always found the biggest difficulty was finding bands that we would want to play with haha! We played a few backyard party's which were always better and wilder then any venue anyway
11.
Can you recommend us some new breed bands from your country because it seems
that many good bands come from Australia nowadays...
I probably not the best person to answer this
question. I'm in that old, done and dusted stage where Ian Stuarts Country
music is sounding better than his early shit haha. I don’t really actively seek
out new music especially from Australia. Maybe a band called Impact Zone from
Melbourne I haven’t heard it, but they seem to like our music. I guess it’s the
older bands everyone already knows about -All In Brawl, THUG, The Corps
12.
Do you know anything about Czech Republic?
Nothing about the skinhead/oi scene, I notice
Condemned 84 play a lot of shows there. I went backpacking through Prague in
about 2008 It was a very nice city, I don’t remember a whole lot apart from
going to some Medieval Torture museum and buying beer from a vending machine. I
didn’t really bother trying to see shows or anything during that time.
13.
When we can order your stuff and are you going to do some merch like t-shirts,
etc...?
You can order our Split CD from our BigCartel and also
our 7" when it arrives. I think the link is on our Facebook page. As far
as merch, we generally wait for people to bootleg it for us. Toni from This
means war was going to do a small run of shirts with the test press cover art
on them, maybe chase him up! A fan in Sydney did a small run of shirts based on
the United Skins cover awhile back - I'm sure they are all long gone though.
14,
Plans for the future...
I'm not too sure, I'd say the new line-up will put a
new spin on new music, and record when possible. I'm doubtful of any shows
haha, the RAC covers don’t sit too well with most people, even though everyone
secretly goes home and listens to them. They have probably been painted with
the Nazi name calling brush. One of the other guys might add to this?
We currently have four new songs and cover Fortress “we’re still alive” which we played at a mates backyard party a few weeks ago, with the new lineup id say the band sounds similar but has a little more of a early RAC sound with the second guitarist. Been talking with Toni who put out the 7’ about doing a 6 song 12’ ep next, so getting 2 more songs together then will record them and send them Toni’s way.
15.
Words on the end...
Thank you very much for the interest. I have followed
your website for many years and it’s a privilege to be included in the content.
Follow the First Assault Facebook page for updates on releases and gigs and
where to buy the 7" Adam ex-FA.