This Is Ukhc, Not La

interview by andy capper

Fabric live in Belgium and (inset) singer Andrew Hartwell. Tony Sylvester is the guy in the white shirt playing the bass. Photos by Vique Martin

The British hardcore scene is so exciting at the moment… and weird. A few years ago, the concept of major label A&Rs at hardcore shows was unthinkable, but now, probably thanks to things like Nirvana and Green Day getting signed, bands with their roots in DIY culture are being taken out to fancy pizza restaurants by people who work for huge labels.

Southend band Understand, who are managed by Happy Mondays guy Nathan McGough, are rumoured to be signing a massive deal with a major. A band from Southport called Dead Wrong (named after a song off the first Integrity seven-inch: classic) are being courted by a guy called Miles Leonard from Roadrunner, and Nottingham emo kings Bob Tilton are rumoured to be being chased by everybody from Rick Rubin to the guy who signed Blondie and Madonna, Seymour Stein.

It’s getting totally out of hand, but the main thing is that all these bands totally rule. In London, the main group is Fabric. They play a lot of shows with Riot Grrrl bands like Huggy Bear and have records put out by Wiiija boss Gary Walker (Cornershop, Bikini Kill, Comet Gain). We recently spoke to Fabric bassist Tony Sylvester to find out just what makes them tick.

Vice: Hey, so how did you guys get together?

Tony Sylvester:

We formed in the summer of 1992. Jamie Tilley (guitar) was in Long Cold Stare, Chris Turner (drums), me (Tony Sylvester, bass) and Andrew Hartwell (vocals) were from Ordinary Eye, and in the summer of last year, Kevin Williams, also from Ordinary Eye, joined on second guitar. I’ve known Jamie since the late-80s London straightedge scene, and him and Barry Lynch were the first hardcore kids I knew who started getting into other music and branching out into other influences. I met Chris at shows and he skated with Andy and Kev. We decided to form a band at the Shudder To Think show at the Powerhaus in Islington.

What are your influences, both musically and in terms of other shit?

When we started, we wanted to marry Swiz, Iceburn and DC influences with Black Sabbath. But Kev brought in more DC influences, and we’re really into all this new Gravity Records-led post-hardcore sound that’s coming out at the moment. Bands like Heroin, Merel, Antioch Arrow, Hoover, Admiral, Native Nod, Clikatat Ikatowi (their demo is amazing!),and this new band with members of Pitchfork called Drive Like Jehu, they’re incredible.

Two bands from Maryland that we’re totally into are Moss Icon and The Hated—their records are on this really small label called Vermin Scum. Andy’s lyrics often come from little things he comes across, so you’ll find Walt Whitman, Cormac McCarthy, Anne Sexton, Hubert Selby Jr. in there. A lot of American prose and poetry really.

Whose side are you on? Born Against or Sick Of It all?

I can’t take anything away from Sick Of It All. When I was a kid, that seven-inch turned me on to so much. But I really don’t like major labels in hardcore, and I guess I back Born Against on that. They’re a force of nature, that band—everyone’s talking about them. They’re like the sludgy take on hardcore—them and Rorschach.

Dead Wrong live at the 1 In 12 Club, Bradford and (inset) Bob Tilton’s Simon Feirn. Photos courtesy of Neil Johnson

What do you think about these hardline straightedge bands?

I saw Earth Crisis before the “Firestorm” seven-inch came out at Dayton More Than Music festival last year. Everyone knew every word —it was incredible. I mean, I was straightedge until about two years ago, and I can understand it, but trying to convert other people to it or whatever just seems childish. Live and let live.

Does Revelation suck cock now or can you actually listen to Into Another without wanting to shoot yourself?

What? Iceburn, Engine Kid? Into Another? Some of the bands they have now are some of the best they’ve ever released! The first Into Another album is a classic. We spin that a lot. I think Engine Kid is the best new band they’ve got. It’s Greg Anderson from Brotherhood playing proggy Melvins heaviness.

What’s the scene like in London these days?

I think there’s a tuff-guy hardcore scene going on but we don’t have anything to do with that. Other than that, we used to play shows with Understand from Southend, but they’re off with big bands now doing the major label thing—we’re still friends, though. Personally we feel more affinity with some of the other bands around the country like Bob Tilton from Nottingham and Dead Wrong from Southport.

What’s this British Riot Grrrl thing all about?

We play a lot of shows with Riot Grrrl bands, and because Wiiija press and distribute our records, we get a lot of comparisons. I think that whole scene is pretty exciting, and talking to someone like Huggy Bear, we’ve got a lot of the same influences and inspirations—Nation Of Ulysses, Charlie Mingus, the Avengers and stuff.

Have you guys got any tours planned?

We’re going on a full UK and Irish tour with Unwound, this new band on Kill Rock Stars. We’re really looking forward to that. Plus I think we’re opening for the Melvins in the summer!

What about releases?

We just recorded our first album,

Body of Water

, so that’ll be out soon. The new album is named from the first page of Wyndham Lewis’s Vorticism manifesto, BLAST:

“A 1000 mile long, 2 kilometer deep body of water even, is pushed against us from the Floridas, to make us mild.”

We are using it in the same way the Vorticists were: to establish independence from both US imperialism, and the old influence of the British Empire (“This Victorian Vampire”). We’re embracing the future.

Who does your artwork?

Jamie does the layout from concepts that he and Andy or I will kick around. The art for the new record comes from Ivan Bilibin, a Russian artist from the turn of the century, a contempory of the Art Nouveau scene who used Russian folk tales as the basis for a lot of what he did. I helped curate an exhibition of his at Brighton University, and a lot of the imagery is taken from his art.

Who writes the lyrics?

Andrew Hartwell. As I say, he’s a big reader and a very studious chap. He takes a lot of phrases from prose and writes from there. Also, you’ll find a lot of Nietzschean and Marinetti-type Futurist influence in there as well.

What does the word “emo” mean to you?

Emotional hardcore, I guess. A lot of my favourite bands could be described as that— Embrace, Rites Of Spring, Dag Nasty. I can see people starting to use it to just mean melodic, but I don’t think that’s the point at all.

Anything else I forgot?

Thanks a lot for the interview, Andy, and for supporting us. We really appreciate it. It’s really hard to get the word out there and fanzines are really important to helping create a network. Please write to us if you want to book a show.