Sometime hardcore bands aren't populated with the dweebs and herbs who work at organic food markets and think kicking game to a woman is a violation of her civil liberties. A certified instance of this oddity is Extortion, a very fast band with very low expectations. This music will tear your pecker off and give you ovarian cancer. The boys just came home from a two-week tour of the US west coast in support of their last album Sick and reissue of their self-titled ep. Mouthpiece Rohan Harrison called my house and told me about my homeland.Vice: So Rohan, Extortion just did a tour of US west coast. How do the vegans in America differ from the people that usually attend your shows in Australia?
Rohan Harrison: Man, so many vegans. So much caring. Actually, people in the US are more enthusiastic about everything in general, lots of gusto. Which does make for good shows, but all that enthusiasm in daily life can get kind of tiring. Sometimes you need a little who-gives-a-fuck, you know?
We care a lot, Rohan. Did you get a lot of stupid Australian jokes?
Not really. Nobody knows shit about Australia over there. One guy asked if we drove to the US. People in the states have a weird thing where they can't say cunt, as well. Weird. They also have this thing where they think there's a big rivalry between us and New Zealand? I suppose there are people out there that hate New Zealand, but to me hating New Zealand would be like hating Iceland or something. I don't hate things I know dick-all about. Isn't that band Smashin' Off from there or something? I've never heard that stupid band. Did you get any trim on tour? Is it easy to score on tour being in this band?
Nah, I lack the social skills to pull chicks on tour. Actually the only social skills I have are the ones I've developed from doing interviews in fanzines. Unless some babe actively comes up to me out of the blue and asks me, "List your top five hardcore seven-inches," or, "So, is Infest a big influence on your brutal blahblahblah?" I'm unlikely to get any action. Funny you bring up "brutal" in that you, Rohan, are the artist behind all of your heinous graphic visuals. Did America dig your hateful violent artwork? Do you hate babies?
Yeah, we sold more of the baby stabbing shirts than any other design. It seems despite all the animal loving over there people really hate babies. As I've mentioned previously in one of our many baby related conversations, I personally don't hate babies, but people who are totally into infants really grind my gears. Why get so excited about what is effectively a smaller, stupider version of a grown human? Unless you're into people shitting their own pants or drooling all over themselves I can't understand it.
Shit, huh? Who was the shittiest band you played with on tour? Be honest.
Maybe this band called Stress we played with in LA? Solely because they had a song called "The Most Metal Way To Die Is To Be Shot In The Face," which is obviously not the most metal way to die. I can think of a billion (not even exaggerating here) more metal ways to die than that. How about drowning in goat piss or trampled to death by a giant goat? Fuck, anything involving goats is more metal than getting shot in the face. Imagine how metal getting shot in the face by a goat would be. What did you think of all the Mexicans? You don't have them in Australia.
Dude, Mexicans rule! The crowd at the LA shows was like 99% Mexican and every single one of them was a total sick cunt. Even the chicks are total badasses and hard as nails.Anything scary happen?
Well, our drummer, Rhys, has a bad hip so before shows he has to sit with his pants off and let his hip breathe so he can play drums as fast as he does. I guess he was sitting outside of the show beforehand and some crackhead tried to get Rhys to let him suck him off. Then the other guys walked outside and the bum was still there five minutes after the initial proposition and they had to save his ass. Jesus, if you sit outside with your pants off in Oakland I guess Hammer or one of the Raiders is going to try and blow you sooner of later. Overall, did you like America or did America like you?
US seems great from what I saw of it, which was mainly peoples couches and floors and the venues. Nice floors and couches they've got over there. We didn't stick around long enough to know what America thought of us. It was more like we were both in the same room, eyeballing each other all night, but never got a chance to speak because we had to keep making toilet breaks. Man, Mexican food makes you shit in bucketloads.UNCLE SHARKEY
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Rohan Harrison: Man, so many vegans. So much caring. Actually, people in the US are more enthusiastic about everything in general, lots of gusto. Which does make for good shows, but all that enthusiasm in daily life can get kind of tiring. Sometimes you need a little who-gives-a-fuck, you know?
We care a lot, Rohan. Did you get a lot of stupid Australian jokes?
Not really. Nobody knows shit about Australia over there. One guy asked if we drove to the US. People in the states have a weird thing where they can't say cunt, as well. Weird. They also have this thing where they think there's a big rivalry between us and New Zealand? I suppose there are people out there that hate New Zealand, but to me hating New Zealand would be like hating Iceland or something. I don't hate things I know dick-all about. Isn't that band Smashin' Off from there or something? I've never heard that stupid band. Did you get any trim on tour? Is it easy to score on tour being in this band?
Nah, I lack the social skills to pull chicks on tour. Actually the only social skills I have are the ones I've developed from doing interviews in fanzines. Unless some babe actively comes up to me out of the blue and asks me, "List your top five hardcore seven-inches," or, "So, is Infest a big influence on your brutal blahblahblah?" I'm unlikely to get any action. Funny you bring up "brutal" in that you, Rohan, are the artist behind all of your heinous graphic visuals. Did America dig your hateful violent artwork? Do you hate babies?
Yeah, we sold more of the baby stabbing shirts than any other design. It seems despite all the animal loving over there people really hate babies. As I've mentioned previously in one of our many baby related conversations, I personally don't hate babies, but people who are totally into infants really grind my gears. Why get so excited about what is effectively a smaller, stupider version of a grown human? Unless you're into people shitting their own pants or drooling all over themselves I can't understand it.
Shit, huh? Who was the shittiest band you played with on tour? Be honest.
Maybe this band called Stress we played with in LA? Solely because they had a song called "The Most Metal Way To Die Is To Be Shot In The Face," which is obviously not the most metal way to die. I can think of a billion (not even exaggerating here) more metal ways to die than that. How about drowning in goat piss or trampled to death by a giant goat? Fuck, anything involving goats is more metal than getting shot in the face. Imagine how metal getting shot in the face by a goat would be. What did you think of all the Mexicans? You don't have them in Australia.
Dude, Mexicans rule! The crowd at the LA shows was like 99% Mexican and every single one of them was a total sick cunt. Even the chicks are total badasses and hard as nails.Anything scary happen?
Well, our drummer, Rhys, has a bad hip so before shows he has to sit with his pants off and let his hip breathe so he can play drums as fast as he does. I guess he was sitting outside of the show beforehand and some crackhead tried to get Rhys to let him suck him off. Then the other guys walked outside and the bum was still there five minutes after the initial proposition and they had to save his ass. Jesus, if you sit outside with your pants off in Oakland I guess Hammer or one of the Raiders is going to try and blow you sooner of later. Overall, did you like America or did America like you?
US seems great from what I saw of it, which was mainly peoples couches and floors and the venues. Nice floors and couches they've got over there. We didn't stick around long enough to know what America thought of us. It was more like we were both in the same room, eyeballing each other all night, but never got a chance to speak because we had to keep making toilet breaks. Man, Mexican food makes you shit in bucketloads.UNCLE SHARKEY
