"La Mantra De Fhiqria has transformed themselves from a bunch of drunks who scream a lot into one of the finest hardcore bands that the midwest has to offer. Brutalizing their audiences with their patented 'midwest dual vocaled screamo attack' they are leaving people speechless everywhere. Passion and power with a healthy dose of sarcastic humor is a dangerous combination."-Arms Reach Recordings

Recently, hardcore has gone through an amazing revival.Not only has it been shaken to its core, but it even has an extra twist. Its not just another boring copy of a by-gone era, its been infused with the energy and enthusiasm it so desperately needed, making present day hardcore the craziest shit around and a growing musical movement.

Sergio:Lets start with the typical questions first.Whos in the band and what do they do?
Rocky: There's Richard William Leech, he plays the guitar. Dan , he plays the bass guitar. Peter Chauncey plays vocals. Dave miller is our newest member replacing Tim's brother and he plays guitar,and then there is me, I play the drums.
Tim: I sing

Sergio:Where are you guys from, and what are your feelings towards your scene there?
Tim: We are from the Chicago, Illinois. The scene here is sort of lame, I think. The kids out in the suburbs seem like they have a lot more fun. Here people mostly just stand around and look bored and talk shit. Some people like that I guess. As compared to other cities, all I can say is the kids in Denver are some of the raddest kids on the planet. end.
Rocky: Other than the lame shit, there are still some really , really great bands from here that we love playing with. But generally, we are spoiled here in Chicago, there is so much music happening every night that the draw for shows isn't that great.

Sergio:When did you form this band and why?
Rocky: We've all been in bands together or have played with each other's past bands. The summer of '99 we decided to put together a rock group.

Sergio:Whats the name La Mantra De Fhiqria mean?
Tim: The answer to this question can only be arrived at through intense soul searching on the part of the interviewer.

Sergio: So youre reviving that whole Krishna hardcore thing?
Rocky: what?

Sergio:So you guys are some crazy hardcore band right?I guess youve seen people freaking out at shows then. So what do you think of people spazzing out shaking like they're in church and rolling down the aisles?
Rocky: Well, here in Chicago, the only real "spazzing out" you see is on the stage, the kids in the crowd don't usually do a whole lot of rocking out for most local bands. Unless you were at a He Who Corrupts INC. show they get a great response. There are a few other's but even when big bands come through town, it almost seems uncool to dance.
Tim: I dont think I've ever really seen behavior at a show quite like you described, however, I have seen alot of speaking in tongues and snake handling. Once this kid asked me why i "spazz out" when we play. I don't think I said anything to him. I think the real answer though is, who wants to play music and just stand there like that girl in mannequin when she isn't alive. Ya know, when she's a mannequin.

Sergio: Whats the wildest show youve ever played?
Rocky: A few years ago, Tim through a bottle off stage and fell on the glass and got all cut up , he was then hog tied with his own mic chord by dave of Seven Days of Samsara. It was pretty crazy, what with all of the easy cheese and glow stick juice being sprayed. But, on tour this summer the people in Denver showed us how they rock and they showed us probably one of the best times we've had in a while.
Tim: Last weekend my friend dan booked us at this show in rural iowa. He neglected to tell me that it was going to be a liberatarian convention. I have no real issue with that, it just would have been nice to know. Anyway, there were like fifteen bands. There were probably about 5 or 600 people there and they were passing around free moonshine. They auctioned off a rifle,(we didnt win, although we tried),and later when we went to get paid the guy running the thing let me and chauncey hold all his fucking guns. The show wasnt so crazy, just the whole atmosphere.

Sergio: Ok, well youre gunna have to explain how the hell you guys write such tight knit songs. I mean you have six members!Two of them are the singers and both sing completely different parts. Its like you wrote two sets of lyrics to a song and didnt care if it made sense or overlapped!
Rocky: I really dont know. We eat a lot of sunflower seeds and drink beer. That gives us the energy we need to do full aerobic excercises during the day which, helps our cardiorespriatory systems which helps our hearts to pump faster, in turn getting more oxygen to our brains which gives us the intellectual capacity to write such tight knit songs.

Sergio:...
Tim: What he means is that we write songs collaboratively. So usually there are at least four people's input on what parts go into a song and how they are arranged. Then we practice them. As far as the vocals. Peter and I usually just pick a topic and write the words separately. Then, sometimes, we arrange them so that they make sense together. sometimes we don't. Sometimes we dont share a topic and sometimes the songs are stories that he and I make up.

Sergio: What are the lyrics mostly about?
Rocky: Tim and Peter write the lyrics.

Tim:Our lyrics deal with universities, ghosts, advertising, whiskey, talking, that whole god thing, waste culture, bruce campbell, and the scientific method. This summer we toured with a band from here called Tusk(members of pelican, uh huh). Thier singer asked me if our lyrics were generally socio-political in nature. I said, "yeah, i guess so." I cant speak for Peter.

Sergio:What do you think about the emerging popularity of this style of hardcore that you guys are playing?
Rocky: Well, most people in hardcore bands maintain a great figure by setting aside at least three days a week for cardiovascular workouts at a frequency of twenty minutes per workout minimum. While using the Karvonen Method to figure what their target heart rate should be. To do that you subtract your age from an infant's resting heart rate, which is 220. Then you add back your current, resting heart rate and that gives you the heart rate at which you should be working out at. That's why people like hardcore so much.

Sergio: Yeah the workouts great. I personally do push ups...well...only one, but im getting there slowly.
Tim: I honestly have not noticed any sort of emerging popularity in our style of music. If anything I think it is waning. I mean two or three years ago you almost couldnt go to a show without seeing a band that played music in our vein. Nowadays, I would be hard pressed to name three or four that still exist and have any sort of poularity beyond their local area.

Sergio:What are your releases so far? I know you have the Bleeding Kansas split cd on Arms Reach Recordings but do you have anything else or are you working on anything else?
Tim: Other than what you mentioned we have a split seven inch with another local Chicago band called Tale of Genji. It is on Up Jumps the Devil and should be in stores. If it isnt, you can order it from Skingraft Records.
Rocky: We are also currently working on a one sided 7" that we hope to release on our own.

Sergio: What have been the main influences you guys have had?
Rocky: We were very influenced by the kids in denver this summer. They got tim to swim naked in a dirty river.

Sergio: He caves in to peer pressure that easily ,huh.
Tim: Rock and Roll bands past and present. I mean, listen to our records. The bands that you think it sounds like, they probably influenced us in one way or another.

Sergio:So what are the plans for La Mantra in say the next couple of years... MTV or VH1?
Tim: MTV, only because I want to be on cribs.
Rocky: The more I think about it, Tim's house is perfect for Cribs but, honestly it wouldn't be all that bad to be on Carson Daily's new show on NBC. What's that called?

Sergio:Sorry I have no knowledge of the world outside of MTV.So are there any bands in your area we should be looking out for? Any bands you dig?
Rocky: Yes. Other than being our buddies, we enjoy Pelican and Tusk whole lot. Look for Pelican's record out on Hydrahead Records.Also checkout Knockout, Stillwell, Kungfu Rick, He Who Corrupts INC, Dead Batteries, Tale of Genji,Nerves, Fourth Rotor, Fourteen or Fight.
Tim: Pelican.

Sergio: Contact info?
fhiqria@hotmail.com or dedbeatkng@aol.com