Concrete Reality: How long has Next 2 Last been around, when did it form?

Jimmy: Me, Chigga, and Terry have been talking about starting something for years but in the beginning it was drunk talk. We used to sit in a field and get all ripped and say "yo, we gotta start a band". Well, it finally started in January when Kev (former drummer) called me and was like get two guitarists and a bass player to come jam tonight. At that time the line up was Jimmy (vox), Chigga (guitar), Lenny (guitar), Chris (bass) and Kev Rupture (drums).

CR: What is the current line up?

J: I sing, Chigga plays guitar, Terry plays bass, the one and only Tommy death plays drums, Lenny plays guitar and Budweiser and Heineken write most of the songs.

CR: Right now you have a two song demo out, it's pretty DIY, is the way your giving it out now going to be the finished version or are you going to dupe more copies and make an insert?

J: Well, we recorded those songs originally for this comp., but who the hell knows when it is coming out so I decided to make tapes. In the beginning they were just tapes with some shit written on the insert, now I've moved up and printed out covers and a little insert with contact info.

CR: Speaking of the comp, did you self finance the recording for the songs that are going to be on it?

J: Yeah, we paid for it, that is why I made tapes to give out.

CR: The recording sounds really raw, with guest vocals from Damien (On The Rise), Sal (Sworn Enemy), and Beach (Chapter 9). What made you want to do guest vocals for the comp? How did you work the whole thing out, did they memorize the songs on the spot?

J: Did you hear how long that song was, I needed someone to help me out (laughs). Like I said, those songs were recorded for a comp for Cali so I wanted to show Cali what's up with the newer bands out here. So I asked Damien and Beach because they were always at our practices and they are close friends of ours. I just gave them the lyrics and they were tight from the start. I wanted another person that we were all friends with so I called up Sal and described to him what the song was like and he came down to our practice and two nights later we recorded.

None of us except Damien memorized the words. We all had to bring a cheat sheet into the booth...which is funny too, because Damien is the only one who smokes pot out of all the people that did vocals.But Sal and Beach did their parts on one take.

CR: Do you consider the Queens/Long Island scene to be more tightly knit then the rest of the city?

J: I consider the Queens scene to be the tightest scene around because everyone knows each other and everyone is out for the good time, get drunk, dance hard, whatever. As for Long Island, it was at one point very tight knit. You would walk into Deja One on a Friday or Saturday night and there was definitely a good show going on. Now, you are lucky to see a decent show two times a month.

CR: Why do you think the LI scene has gotten that way?

J: The Long Island scene got all fucked up once Marc Noise stopped booking the shows at Deja because there was no one around any more that was more of an authority to prevent shit from happening at the shows at Deja. Like the graffiti outside and the beer bottles laying around on people's lawns. If Marc kept doing the shows there none of that shit would have happened because people respected him a lot more.

CR: Castle Heights has been putting up shows regularly now for almost six months, like at least one a week, do you think that the scene would suffer if Castle stopped doing shows?

J: Man, without Castle Heights NYC would be fucked. No where for smaller bands to play decent shows, no where for kids to go see decent shows...nothing at all.

CR: Why do you think a lot of NYC venues are closing their doors to HC?

J: Well in my opinion, it's all bullshit. Agnostic Front say it best, "Guiliani, Guilliani, FUCK YOU!!!" You'd think he would try to stop all the raves in the city instead he is worried more about whether or not a club has a Cabaret license. Fights don't help either because the owners get sick of having to break shit up constantly and they don't want to deal with the cops trying to shut them down, which is understandable. Why should they put their business at risk because two asswholes decide they want to pound each other. It sucks but that's the way it is man. The fucked up part about it is that most of the time it's not a kid that is regularly into hardcore that starts the fight, it's just some shmuck that came out to see his friends band and got hit while standing near the pit. Then this asswhole runs after the other guy and jumps pn him causing everyone else to get rowdy. Now that has made the show get shutdown, possibly no more Hardcore at that club, and if there is Hardcore the dick that started the fight got his friends band blacklisted from the club...it's shitty but we can't do anything about it. There will always be at least one asswhole there to trigger the whole thing.

CR: Are there any instances of fights that you've seen that have directly led to a club being shutdown?

J: I was at the Continental the day before thanksgiving when The Infiltrators, Disassociate, Shutdown, Madball, and Agnostic Front played and two seconds into AF's set a fight broke out. A few blades got pulled and then Roger (AF) stopped the show. And there have been random fights here and there but I never actually saw the club it self get shutdown because of it.

CR: I heard about that, that's a fucking shame too because there were some pretty good shows coming up at that place. Did anyone actually get stabbed?

J: Nah man, just a few blades getting pulled out for intimidation. I meant, it's one thing if you start a fight at a show but to take it to the next level and pull a knife out is 10 times worse man. I highly doubt whatever happened was worth stabbing someone over. But some people just get too nuts. Maybe they need to get laid more (laughs).

CR: In the Long Island scene, where you guys come from, corner bars seem to be necessary to keep the scene alive. And it's really hard to find a big place to book Hardcore shows, especially after Deja One shutdown and more recently, The Swingset. Do you think the Long Island scene will adjust to the situation or is it already suffering?

J: The smaller bands are suffering because they all have to play these smaller bars and never get to play with a decent headliner. Therefore the same kids are at all their shows because when there is a big club on LI you can't pay there unless you can draw all these people, or unless you are on a label.

CR: With those kind of small bar shows, occasionally a headliner will play, but do you think the out come is worth them coming down, considering a lot of headliners want to get some money which leaves the guy that booked the show fucked if the the turnout was low.

J: Well for the bands that have $1000.00 guarantees, it wouldn't be worth it because even if the show sells out they aren't going to get paid what they want unless the kid who booked the show reaches into his own pocked to pay them. Which sucks because half the time it is the undercard on the show who brings in all the people and you have to tell those guys, "hey, I can't pay you even though you did all the promoting and brought all yours boys down and they drank mad beers and made the bar do good business, but sorry pal you ain't getting paid."I have been put in that position a few times when I have booked shows at the New Corner Bar in Hempstead. There was this one show where on band brought all the people down and the headliner didn't bring anyone. But not enough people showed up so I had to pay the rental of the place out of my own pocket and no one else got paid. It really sucks that Hardcore has become a Business, oh well.

CR: Anything new coming out soon?

J: We are going to be on an upcoming Sadistic Records compilation called Feel The Pain, which should be out by August, I hope. Some of the bands on it are us, On The Rise, 5th Faction, Quibron, Who's To Blame, Tension and more....

Next 2 Last Website

Contact Next 2 Last at:
Jimmy - next2last@hotmail.com

TOMMY DEATH ( DRUMMER)
38 ASPEN ST.
FLORAL PARK,NY 11001

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NEW CD OUT SOON!!!!