Revolution Thrash Interview From Feb 2004

I know that Myles of Destruction started out as a solo project with just Myles (how odd) how did you come to meet Tony and Audrey? And how long have you been around? MYLES: don't knock the one man band era! i made enough money this year from having one of those oldschool tracks on a major motion picture soundtrack to pay fot a trip to iceland! AUDREY: Myles and I went to the same shows since I moved to Philly in '95. MYLES: that is true. this band started in 1999. audrey and tony joined up around 2001. i always thought audrey was interesting and tony played allot of really cool tom-heavy percussive music at the job we worked together, so they were asked aboard. And as for the whole Violin/lack of guitar subject, where you actively looking for someone besides a guitarist? or did it just fit and then there was no need? (I hope that makes sense) MYLES: i've never really liked most guitar player's attitudes and i think it's an unnessesary overused instrument all in all. being the the son of a "worldclass" violin maker has made the instrument a pretty familar staple in my life and i guess the music in my head has always had underlying string presence. and i like bass cause it's...uh..boomy? TONY: I can only speak for the time that I was in the band... this is the first project I've ever played in without a guitar and I thought it gonna be wierd... and it kinda was. The bands I was in before now all had guitar players who wrote most of the stuff... I guess what I'm saying I've never felt we needed a guitar player... I like guitar, I mean, come on, I love metal, but I'm sure we don't need one in our band... For the week that we toured together, you blew every audience away and stole the show, in my opinion.How is your response in Philly, your hometown? How far have you toured and where has been your favorite place to play? AUDREY: I think we're bigger in vermont/morrisionville than in Philly, but that'sprobably not the case. I love play there, cause the kids get really payched and dance a lot more than us jaded Philadelphians. TONY: Um... wow, thanks. That kinda stopped my train of thought. We always have fun at the shows here in Philly. Our friends come and we have a great time. I don't really think I have any favorite place to play yet. We've played tons of shows and I'm gonna say I have a really good time at about 85% of them... The other shows that fall into that other percentile, they're like any show that could be a problem for any reason... equipment problems, venue problems, power problems... dumb shit. We've gone on tours twice and we've gone north twice... We've played in Vermont, Massachussetts, New York (Morrisonville!) So I think I just stumbled on one of my favorites... I love playing the Mason Street house in Morrisonville. The guys there are fantastic people who are doing something really cool... I'd play there anytime they'd have us. Right.... enough outta me. I'll pull my head out of your ass long enough to ask a non-band related question… speaking of Philly, I heard something about how it’s almost impossible to find D.I.Y. spaces to play in Philly right now. Maybe what I heard is completely wrong, but something about laws prohibiting something? fill me in. or maybe I'm hopelessly incorrect? some interview eh? AUDREY: The DIY spaces come and go, but there is always a basement if you can find it. Right now there's actaully several basements doing shows and those are always the best shows in my opinion. TONY: Uh, I don't know too much about this one... I'm practically a recluse. MYLES: generally speaking from experience, it's a hard balancing act keeping a city venue running and keeping your neighbors from burning your house down from the noise created in the process. One last live question, in another interview Tony said the worst playing experience he ever had was in Vermont with Vomit Dichotomy. If he could tell that story again that would be awesome, and I'd like to say that on behalf of Vermont: we love you. We don' all want to vomit on you, and een if some do it's in loving way. Seriously though besides Tony, whats the worst and best live experience youve ever had? AUDREY: My favorite shows are the ones we play with our friends bands. I can't think of anything really bad. And although the Vomit Dychotomy makes for a good story, and there were questionable moments during it, we had an awesome response from the crowd, and I look at it as a positve experience overall. TONY: Well, see, let me preface this by saying a couple of things... the thing about that show was that it was a wierd place to get to because it was all the way on the back of the campus with little to no lights... The show was also during the middle of the Vermont "mud season", so that was a lot of fun. We got there early and had to sit around a lot... people started showing up early, drinking. Right, so as the night goes on, we were trying to figure out who was playing when and people were getting more and more drunk... there was a definite confusion happening and that always bugs me a little... I kinda had it in my head that this place was getting crazier, so I wanted to play before it got totally nuts and the cops came (which they apparently did after we left). Right, so we started noticing people sucking down serious amounts of beer and some people were just falling down drunk... then the bucket came out. The bucket is where the reall problem started (for me anyway)... these kids who were just ridiculously drunk all started vomiting in this bucket... one or two of them were pissing in it and I saw one of these kids trying to drink out of another's urine stream... I mean... my stomach turns thinking about it. I know I saw one of these kids vomit in the bucket and then immediately after, he started making out with another one of the kids who were "involved with the bucket", with a string of pukey drool hanging off his chin... I'm looking around the room thinking "what the fuck is happening here?!? Is this what happens when you live among so many Deadheads?" Somewhere in there, Myles and I were sitting on one of the couches and he screamed "WHERE ARE WE?" right in my face... this was a little unsettling, but now that we're not there, its funny. Right, moving on, so we're setting up to play and I'm thinking about that bucket... Is this thing gonna get splashed on us or what? Are we gonna get hit with bottles? What? We started playing and it turned out to be a good time... some drunk kid jumped up and tried singing to one of our instrumentals... That was good. When stopped playing and were moving our gear off the stage, I noticed the smell of vomit was getting stronger... I started looking around and I saw people making out on the floor... you know, the floor that was coated with mud and vomit... I wanted to leave and we weren't sure where we were going to stay and this just looked bleak.... that bucket was being vomited in, pissed in and drunk from and spit in... Dear God, that bucket. I know the people who were doing all the vomiting are in a band that I have never heard. All I can say is that the vomit/urine/excrement thing is not only gross, its unsanitary. I've since blocked out so much of that night, except for the time that we played and the nice people we got to talk to. Yeah, so this kid comes up and starts talking to me saying, "So, you're from Philly..." and I'm looking at him... after about 30 seconds, we figured out we were cousins who haven't seen eachother in 6-7 years, so we immediately packed up our shit and went to my cousin Nick's house and we all lived happily ever after. How many releases does Myles of Destruction have under your collective belts? TONY: Hmmm... There's the record, a 7" on Worldeater, "Doom Town", "More Sophisticated Weaponry" and the solo stuff... Right? Myles? Audrey? MYLES: yeah, plus lots of compilations that will never be released and some radio recordings. Although the only thing Ive heard from the split with Abiku is the one song on your website, I can tell its fucking incredible. How has response been for the split? What label did it come out on? Spill the goods on the new release. TONY: Well, some people we know here in Philly started their own label called Worldeater Records and were nice enough to put out a split record for us... we recorded and our friends in Abiku recorded and here it is... The full length is actually about to be remixed and remastered and put out on a friend of ours new label... We should have more details in the near future. MYLES: Some random fun facts about the 7" record: -The release is on red vinyl. It has a limited press of 500 copies. -The cover artwork was found in an abandoned building where there was a fire. -Lyrics on this record deal with the politics of stealing, watching someone you love almost die from an illegally performed sex change operation, getting thrown out of your house, losing your friends, getting dismembered by machinery and a certain nonconfronting armchair "feminist" in philly who requires men to fight her battles for her. -the 7" can be ordered by sending $3.00 to: Worldeater Records/ P.O. Box 42728/ Philadelphia PA 19101/USA I know its incredibly stupid to make this generalization from one song, but the one song I heard on your website was pretty different from the full length. Is the whole seven inch like this? How do you think your sound has changed from the full length? TONY: Uh.... we're evolving? MYLES: well, i'm continually upgrading my gear and trying to torture my vocal chords in new ways all the time, and that combined with the fact that we recorded the 7" with someone we've never worked with before has got to count for something. thanks for taking notice! Where does Myles of Destruction go from here? Upcoming releases, tours, etc TONY: We keep writing and eventually, record! AUDREY: Re-release (is that a word?) of running only makes the fire worse. Our favorite engineer Darren, decided that he didn't know what he was doing when we first did the record, so he's going to redo it and put it out for us. He has been a huge supporter, and a huge help for a while now. MYLES: the new release will also have new artwork that doesn't make me wince. what the hell is the name of the label he's starting? does anyone know? How can people get in contact with you? MYLES: MYLES OF DESTRUCTION/BURST INTO FLAMES RECORDS/ PO BOX 42673/ PHILADELPHIA, PA 19101/ USA http://www.mylesofdestruction.com ? Final Comments? MYLES: yay! AUDREY: thanks for having your zine! TONY: You're awesome for thinking of us and putting us in your 'zine. Thanks! We'll get it together and come back soon!

Email: myles@mylesofdestruction.com