Image: Reid HaithcockLong Island’s Brain Slug play a stripped down and basic New York hardcore punk style. Like a slice from Di Fara it’s not fancy but solid. But while the motto for their upcoming LP is “You gotta live in Power or You Die Like a Fool” may sound like something that Raybeez from Warzone may have spouted back in the day, Brain Slug have also covered Christian Death’s "Spiritual Camp". So don’t lump them in as your typical NYHC band just yet.Following their five-song 7-inch Distort New York, on the German Hardware label and a 7”, the band are readying to release a new Live In Power LP. Promo tapes of the LP will be available this weekend when they play with hardcore/powerviolence legends Infest.Listen to the track “Checkmate” below and read a quick interview with the band’s Sonan The Barbarian and Gravel Teeth.Noisey: How would you describe the state of NYC hardcore in 2015?
Sonan The Barbarian: I mean I don't really think it's my taste these days as much. There are a handful of bands I do like but for the most part there's a lot of shit I just can't get into. Styles and trends are always coming and going, but now with this sort of global awareness of formerly regional sounds everyone just apes everyone else. And I've always been a definite member of the "out crowd" so I think it's funny that I'm in my fuckin thirties and I still see shit people do like I'm in high school. No matter where you go you can't get away from the "who you know" type shit. So I just ignore whatever I'm not into and keep doing what I like doing, which is making a New York hardcore band that I think sounds like a New York hardcore band.How do you describe the state of the NYCPD in 2015?
Sonan The Barbarian: It's obviously fucked, right? I was killing time at Jamaica Station the other day and when I see two or more cops together walking past me on the street I just get rigid. Like I'm not doing anything wrong and all of a sudden I feel like I am. You shouldn't inspire fear into innocent citizens man. That's crazy.Gravel Teeth: I live on Long Island, but the same concept behind this question could apply to the cops on Long Island as well… possibly moreso as corruption and misconduct run rampant all over the communities here. The police force is over-equipped and under-trained; too many guns and not enough people who know how to properly deal with volatile situations. But some of them simply don't want to properly deal with these situations. I can't tell you how many times I've spoken to a police officer and they've commented about "how many psychos are on the force" or how we have to "watch out for the bad ones".Has there been much changes to the band since this earlier VICE interview?
Gravel Teeth: A couple different members, better songwriting. I bought a house, had like five girlfriends, and one time I rode my bike to Boston just so I could watch They Live.Sonan The Barbarian: Yeah I mean it’s basically just the same core group of dudes it's just that now we got the blade sharpened a little better. We took some time, put in some work, and laid out what it is we're about as a band and we're ready to present that to anybody who wants to hear it.
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Sonan The Barbarian: I mean I don't really think it's my taste these days as much. There are a handful of bands I do like but for the most part there's a lot of shit I just can't get into. Styles and trends are always coming and going, but now with this sort of global awareness of formerly regional sounds everyone just apes everyone else. And I've always been a definite member of the "out crowd" so I think it's funny that I'm in my fuckin thirties and I still see shit people do like I'm in high school. No matter where you go you can't get away from the "who you know" type shit. So I just ignore whatever I'm not into and keep doing what I like doing, which is making a New York hardcore band that I think sounds like a New York hardcore band.How do you describe the state of the NYCPD in 2015?
Sonan The Barbarian: It's obviously fucked, right? I was killing time at Jamaica Station the other day and when I see two or more cops together walking past me on the street I just get rigid. Like I'm not doing anything wrong and all of a sudden I feel like I am. You shouldn't inspire fear into innocent citizens man. That's crazy.
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Gravel Teeth: A couple different members, better songwriting. I bought a house, had like five girlfriends, and one time I rode my bike to Boston just so I could watch They Live.Sonan The Barbarian: Yeah I mean it’s basically just the same core group of dudes it's just that now we got the blade sharpened a little better. We took some time, put in some work, and laid out what it is we're about as a band and we're ready to present that to anybody who wants to hear it.
Catch Brain Slug Nov 20 in Brooklyn at Saint Vitus with Infest and Citizen’s Arrest.