by Prawker El Punko For "Thought
Is A Crime" Web-Zine
WHAT'S YOUR NAME, HOW OLD ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO FOR THE
BAND?
PETE: 19, vocals/guitars
JARED: 18, drums/bitchwork
NICK: 17 bass player
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD YOU DESCRIBE STANDARD ISSUE AS PLAYING?
PETE: Melodic pop punk with a hardcore influence
JARED: Something along the lines of Better Than Ezra meets Blondie.
NICK: melodic punk hardcore blend
HOW AND WHEN DID THE BAND FORM?
PETE: Me and Jared the drummer have been playing since February of 95',
Nick is our 3rd bass player. The band formed after former bass player
Mike Raedy moved up to vocals and Nick started playing bass. Nick had
been a friend and roadie at the time. Then after not being pleased
with
Mike's singing, I went back to singing and we changed our name to
Standard Issue.
JARED: Yeah, that's about it in a nutshell.
WHERE DID THE BAND GET THE NAME STANDARD ISSUE FROM?
JARED: My cousin, Tara, from KT thought of it.
PETE: It had been Nick's previous band which included our drummer
Jared's little brother. That band died quick and we thought it was a
better name than Squeak Machine.
JARED: Then we stole it because we thought the name sounded cool.
WHAT LABEL ARE YOU GUYS ON?
PETE: Simple Things Records based out of Fairfax, VA
(http://members.aol.com/SimpleDC)
HOW DID YOU HOOK UP WITH THEM?
PETE: We hooked up with Simple Things Records through our brother band
"Bucket of Monkey". We'd played with them in the past, and they
brought
Jason from Simple Things out to the show and he liked us.
HOW MANY ALBUMS HAVE YOU RELEASED AND WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES?
PETE: Our first release was self-titled and released on March of 97.
It
was a 10 song tape which we only currently play 2/10 songs off of it.
It is out of print due to the fact that it sucks. Our second release
came in the summer of 98'', it's a cd/ep titled "From the Streets".
The
title came from an inside joke we had while we were in Richmond, Va. It
contains 5 songs and a hidden death-core joke song which was totally
100% improvised on the spot, it has Jared singing, and Ben (NBN
Studios)
on drums. What happened was, Ben
wanted to play Jared's drums just to mess around between songs, I
started to play along, so did Nick, and Jared pressed record and that's
the story. Oh yeah, Jared is the guy screaming.
JARED: GGGGGRRRRRR!!!!! RRRRROAAARRRR!!!!SATAN!!!!DEATH!!!!
IN THE PAST FEW YEARS OF YOUR LIFE HOW MANY BLIND SEEING EYE DOGS
HAVE YOU FOUND MISLEADING PENGUINS TO WARMER CLIMATES INSTEAD OF COOLER
ONES WHERE THEY AREN'T ABLE TO MATE WITH OTHER NON-FLYING BIRDS?
PETE: Well I recall in one case when I was walking down W.Grace Street
in Richmond. The dog was walking along with the penguin holding the
leash. But one thing caught my eye, they were headed South. Now, as I
recall it penguins go North to mate, it's their nature. So I was all
like "Hey you stupid dog, you're going the wrong way!, The penguins are
never going to mate if you keep going south!" So I killed the bitch,
took the penguin into my own arms and started driving North with the
band. Around 26 hours later we reached Greenland which wasn't even
green, that pissed me off. Anyways, we hiked along the snow and ice to
find some penguins to drop it off with. Well, after 6 hours of walking
around Greenland we finally found a group of penguins, dropped it off.
The penguin was so grateful that he let us play a show for them. It
went
well, sold a few shirts and stickers to the penguins. That's the only
time I've seen a blind seeing-eye dog mislead a penguin to a warmer
climate instead of cooler ones where they aren't able to mate with
other
non-flying birds. Oh wait there was this other time but i forgot what
happened.
JARED: I remember like yesterday. I was in New York eating lunch at
this
deli. Then, to my dismay, a dog I knew came in with a penguin. The
dog's
name was Sir Eckleheimer, I did not know the penguin. So any way, he
sat
next to me and we shared a pastromi. I offered some to the penguin and
he looked at me kind of funny. I ask Sir Ecklemheimer where he was
taking the penguin and he said that he was taking him to Key West. I
said, "YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKING CUNT, DO YOU KNOW HE CAN'T MATE
THERE?"
He said he knew. I did the only thing I could, I killed Sir Eckleheimer
with the remains of my pastromi. That fucking bastard. What kind of
monster would do such a thing. For the time being, I threw that poor
penguin in a cooler. I needed to find who was behind all this. I
checked
Sir Eckleheimer's wallet and found his bosses card. I went straight
over
there and talked to him. It turned out that he ran a whole underground
network of leading penguins to climates that don't make them horny.
The
thought of horny penguins was just enough for me to call it a day. So I
just went home and layed there in the fetal position under a cold
shower.
NICK: umm well penguins are actually the only bird that can actually
fly
under water and i find that fascinating so when I see those damn dogs
messing with my fellow feathered friends I get pissed and it makes me
want to start a militia.
WHOA.. I AM NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL. YOU GUYS AREN'T EXAGGERATING ARE
YOU?
PETE: Ok Ok, I was joking, it only happened once.
JARED: It's kind of hard to tell because I downed a lot of coffee
creamers that day.
HOW HAS PUNK MUSIC/LIFESTYLE INFLUENCED THE BAND OR CHANGED YOUR
LIFE?
PETE: Well for me, when I first got into punk I felt like I had found
a
home. I loved the music, I could relate to the lyrics, and most
importantly I would still have long hair if I hadn't gotten into punk,
hehe. As far as the band goes, I think we all look at punk differently
and we apply those aspects in our own way into our music and that's how
we get our sound.
JARED: Punk made me the cool person I am today. Um yeah. Anyway, I
realized how I can relate myself to punk. Music on the radio always
sucked, except for Tom Cochren and that "Life is a Highway" song. The
music also made my outlook on life too, it made me realize some of the
problems in the world that won't be fixed because big business needs
their money. For example, electric,solar, or even cars that run on
water
are impossible because major corporations lobby our self-loving,
profit-hungry Congressmen. Punk made me realize what the world really
needs to do. That is, stop and take a look at how fucked up we really
are. We destroy our forests for housing. Our inner city children suffer
because we see them as lesser humans, born to fail. So we decrease
funding to their schools. The mass media is the main cause of our
problems, such as homophobia and prejudice. Our society keeps moving
toward some vague goal called progress, therefore causing us to
overlook
what really matters. You know, stuff like that.
NICK: I dont think i lead a "punk lifestyle" i live my life the way i
want, not through a stereotype of what kind of person i am.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF STRAIGHT EDGE/VEGAN KIDS?
PETE: Well, first of all straight edge and vegan are 2 totally
different things. I am straight edge and I am vegetarian. The only
thing I oppose to in sXe is militism, I don't support militism in any
way. Even though I'm sXe I don't consider myself as part of any group,
and I don't put myself on a different level as anybody because of
it.
JARED: I used to be straight edge, but then I denounced because of
those
"gangs" and stuff. Pete is one of those cool straight edger's. But some
of them make it sound like some kind of prestiged club, and I will have
no part in that. Straight edge should be a personal goal, not an
enforceable law or in Earth Crisis terms, a cult (that join us or die
mentaliy). Vegans are fine with me as long as they don't yell at me for
eating poor defenseless creatures. But seriously, I do respect their
cause.
NICK: I like them until they start telling me shit about how i am a bad
person just cause i eat and use products that come from cows.
BASED ON YOUR TOURING, WHAT ARE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANADIAN
SHOWS AND AMERICAN SHOWS?
PETE: Never seen a Canadian show, except in the "Another State of
Mind"video that has Social Distortion touring the US and Canada in
1982,
and the audiences looked the same as the US.
JARED: Do the kids say, "Good punk show, aye?"(joke)
NICK: We didn't play in Canada but i know that the fucking kids there
know how to rock!!!!
WHAT ARE SOME COOL BANDS YOU HAVE MET?
JARED: OH SHIT, I left that penguin in the cooler!
PETE: We met this band from Pa, at a show in Richmond in the summer of
97' they were called "The Caddies" they were pretty cool and they
bought
a tape. Hmmm Let's see....Well most bands we've played with are all
really cool guys, bands like Fun Size, Bucket of Monkey, Joey's Dilema,
Turbine, mostly local bands.
JARED: Majority Rule, Daycare Swindlers, Over It, Positive State(RIP),
the Vandals, Darkest Hour, I'm sure I've met a lot of other cool bands,
it's just that it's a bit late and I just got off work.
BANDS YOU GUYS LISTEN TO?
PETE: I listen to Strung Out, Boy Sets Fire, Propagandhi, Fun Size,
Snapcase, Avail, Latex Generation and many more.
JARED: Boy Sets Fire, Avail, Strung Out, Good Riddance, Snapcase,
Suicide Machines, mainly hard core and some pop punk.
NICK: suicide machines, strung out, limp, and chino from the
deftones
WHAT ZINES DO YOU READ?
PETE: None really, if I come across one I'll pick it up. But I don't
frequent the same one.
JARED: Punk Planet, MRR, and sometimes and an occasional local zine.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE?
PETE: I play on a Marshall JLX-900 head, with a Carvin slanted 4X12, a
Boss Metal-Zone distortion pedal and I use a Yamaha Pacifica guitar.
We
also have a Sound Tech 4 channel 300W PA.
JARED: I play on a Premier Signia. Remo heads. A Drum Workshop double
petal. Gibralter hardware. Pro Mark 747 nylon tipped oak sticks.
Zildjian cymbals. I also have cases!
SO WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS NOW FOR STANDARD ISSUE?
PETE: Hopefully we'll get a van before next summer, hopefully we'll
have the cd out by spring of 99', hopefully we'll tour in the summer of
99'.
JARED: I would like to have "The Official Standard Issue Home Enema
Kit"
ANY NEW RELEASES TO LOOK FORWARD TO?
PETE: Yes, Our first full length cd entitled "Generic America" will be
released on Simple Things Records. Oh also we're doing a split 7" with
"Latex Generation" which will probably be on Simple Things Records.
JARED: Simple Things will also be doing a comp sooner or later. We'll
also be on America Subculture 3 on Generalissimo Records.
WHEN CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE IT RELEASED?
PETE: The cd will hopefully be out by spring of 99', and for the 7",
there is no release date as of now.
JARED: If I told you, I would probably be wrong.
WHEN IS YOUR NEXT TOUR GOING TO BE AND WHERE?
PETE: Our next tour will for surely be in the summer of 99'. We plan
on touring the upper east coast, as well as lower. We wanna hit the
spots on the tour that we didn't get on out last summer tour with
"Bucket of Monkey". The target cities that I'm hoping to hit are NYC,
NJ, Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Va Beach, The Carloinas, Atlanta,
and Florida. And maybe some mid- west cities like Chicago, St. Louis,
Cincinnati, and Louisville KY.
JARED: Wherever we go without breaking down. Yeah, I want to play
Lousivlle. Wanna play Effingham?
CAN YOU HOOK US UP WITH STANDARD ISSUE SHIT?
JARED: I would if we had SI shit. There are about five stickers left
and
that's all. We need them to reorder. On top of that, we're broke. In
december, we're playing four or five shows so we'll probably get some
money then. We're all broke! Me and Nick spent all our money on new
cars. VW Forever!
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF "THOUGHT IS A CRIME" WEBZINE?
PETE: I have never seen it before but I'm sure it's a good zine.
JARED: I checked it out and it seems pretty cool. It can use some
actual
pictures. Take some from our page if you want any of us!
ANY LAST THOUGHTS OR QUOTES.
PETE: Yea!
JARED: I once strangled a small horse with my scrotum. Proximate Me!
Ahh! Wink!
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