Interview with DJ Smith
Can you please introduce yourself, and tell us what bands you have been a part of?
Kia Ora! I'm DJ Smith from the 4010, the East’s gnarliest pit goon and maybe just the youngest NZHC nerd in Aotearoa. I love skating, getting up, my community and hard as fuck music. I’ve been jamming in random ass metal and hardcore bands since I was a real youngster but this first bands I took seriously were Terror In Resonance and my newest band DEFKON1. Chea for the interview!
For a 17 year old you seem quite knowledgeable when it comes to hardcore history and similar sub-genres. Can you tell us about your introduction to hardcore and how important was it to you to know your history?
Yo, gotta give it up to the Tony Hawk soundtracks… Shit was class. I was 10 years old learning to play guitar, and at the same time I was playing THUG2 and THPG - On those soundtracks was where I first heard Gorilla Biscuits, Snapcase, and so many other mean as fuck bands. Some of the very first songs I learnt on guitar were from those games, especially the song Hold Your Ground by Gorilla Biscuits; I got really into OSDM and metalcore over the years after that, but at my roots, it's that love of HC that everything comes back to.
I won’t play - I fucking love nerding out on genre distinctions as it is with everything - Movies, Music, Art - you name it. Not necessarily in an elitist sort of way, (...anymore. OSDM nerd phase is well in my past) but my brain just loves organising that shit. Its important to me to know the history in hardcore especially because each hardcore subgenre is rooted not necessarily in music but in community and ethics… From Youth crew and Beatdown it’s all under the hardcore umbrella, but it’s the stories, the people and the messages that you take with you. Plus, just in general, looking into hardcore history is a big hobby of mine as it is. Live for this shit.
I enjoyed watching the live mosh review for my nephew's band Brawler. How did the live mosh review idea come about and will we see more of it in the future?
Ahahahah yeah… Not gonna lie, the Mosh Review thing is a complete rip from this awesome youtube channel called Stage Dive Yoga + Mosh React! Totally awesome and charismatic guy, some of my favourite reference material for teaching myself mosh moves that no one in NZHC (or at least in my generation of NZHC) has found out about yet. Always stoked to see new bands rise up, I thought Id give a cheeky kiwi version of that same idea just fucking around on boring afternoon. I'm thinking of bringing that shit back though, I am beyond passionate about moshing - I even practise! As long as there is NZHC, Im going to be fucking up someones day to that shit, so, why not film it, and fuck up my own day instead of some random TikTok weenie punk?
FUCK THE PUSH MOSH
VIOLENT DANCING SUPREMACY
It's always good seeing the youth bring a fresh new energy to nzhc. Can you tell me about the last guest spot with Stacked live and do you plan to do another band in the near future?
Oh man that Stacked guestie was crackup as fuck hahaha… Basically, I got on a bus up to Auckland in April to come see my friends in the Auckland scene and go to some shows. We’re hanging out, shooting the shit, not being the most spirit-filled or straight-edge individuals, and the suggestion of getting me on some vocals for the show comes up (Chur the bro Alasdair). Of course I am down to do this shit no questions asked, but there was 2 pretty funny setbacks -
The show was at [A BAR], I am not 18 then or yet.
The show was THAT NIGHT and of the 2 songs they asked me to jump on, I knew 60% of the lyrics overall, and I'd consider that a generous estimation.
Still, because of my mean as fuck mana, I was still down and gonna fight tooth and nail to do this mission impossible ass show. With some very careful group placement and a tactical sleight of mind with the classic “He’s a roadie” trick, I stride hard against the sticky, beer-soaked venue floor, Dual amps in hand and a shit-eating grin. Now, all I had to focus on was the pre-game and quickly googling the lyrics to that Knocked Loose song “Mistakes Like Fractures”.
Gotta say that show was crazy - I got in a cartwheel that decimated an emo kid, I gotta get up on the world’s tiniest fucking stage with 5 of my closests, and I got to do all this on free piss and free redbull. Shout-out to some of the Pressure crew for holding it down on some mic grab shit when I was haemorrhaging the lyrics sounding like Rick Ta Life, and another shoutout to a very drunk Josh from Marry You for the 1am Underoath shout-alongs haha. Every-one involved, you're all good cunts and it's bros like you that keep me in this game.
As far as any new projects, fuck yeah I plan to do another band in the future… Me and my homies finally came together and got this new shit going - It's like Bulldoze meets Dystopia, but up to scratch with that new SJHC and NYHC that's been blowing the new gen's minds. Were called DEFKON1 and you best fucking duck for cover. Shifting from vocals back on to guitar for a change for this one, bringing back that old school shit, not on that emo shit, just real street shit. The scene is my home but shits being gentrified, the skill and the financial floor is rising, and the values are being lost. Im no fucking trust fund baby and with the rising tide coming in, I fear that HC in the cities will become the domain of the well-off, the higher middle class, the ones who couldnt give a fuck about the working class and have never laid finger in their life. Fuck TikTok punks, Fuck Twitter-finger motherfuckers and fuck you if this hurt your feelies to read, reader. We're cooking up shit now and should be doing shows hopefully next year.
You are living in Gisborne at the moment. I hear rumours of maybe a Saving Grace show run by yourself. What is the current scene situation like in Gisborne at the moment and will you be hosting future shows?
Yeah bro, stuck in the G trap. Was gonna drop out and fuck off north but shit fell through. Yeah, ima ran that show. Vasely was nice enough to hit me up just for being another coastie in hardcore (We're a rare, rare fuckn breed) and once we got talking he mentioned a Saving Grace hometown show.
The 4010 is pretty dry of hardcore in all honesty, oddly enough though there’s quite a reasonable amount of metalheads and death metal bands, so hopefully this influences at least some appreciation of hardcore here. That being said, the return of Saving Grace is a big deal across NZ, but like a second-coming to Gissy - even some of my friends who dont listen to any hardcore are stoked on the return, and I feel like alot of retired mosh goblins of the 4010 as well as the Hawkes Bay will make themselves seen and heard. I have only ever booked a handful of shows before but dawg I live for this shit, and I've got some hearty manpower and a clear focus. Gissy HC is coming back in a more general sense too, by the way - Im booking some smaller hardcore shows and testing the waters, bringing some of my more “generally alternative” friends along and seeing what happens. It was gonna be December but it’s looking like it’s being pushed into the early new year… CORE ON THE COAST 23¨ BIAAATCH STAY POSTED.
How would you describe the current scene in New Zealand at present and are there any improvements you would like to see?
We're a nation of 5 million people, so considering the fact that our population size is more comparable to most American and European cities, I think we're doing quite well for ourselves as a scene… Corny as it is to say I really do feel like we are in a new era in NZ. All my friends are all in bands. A lot of us are finding our footing quicker than most. For the first time in a while, In Auckland, there's a tangible scene of youngsters doing some real cool shit - Not only bands but artists, promoters, soundies - everyones pitching in to make it work for the love of hardcore and the love of the community.
I think the scene could do some things differently though - For one thing, there's really only shows in Wellington, Auckland or Hamilton… Although not realistic, I wish bands would play more towns in the next tier down of population - Scenes only form if there's bands and people to grow from. Gisborne, Whakatane, Palmerston North, Rotorua, etc, not to mention the entire South Island - Although it’d probably be diminishing returns, if some more broad and some bigger bands were to do some smaller towns on a tour circuit, we could expand the reach and the community of NZHC. For one, I'm always down to book East Coast shows.
Strength through unity.
Top 10 bands or albums that have influenced you the most so far in your life?
This is not really a top 10 in any real order because I can’t rank these bands, but these are the 10 most important bands that come to mind for me
10. Paint it Black.
Super underrated band and one of the first hardcore bands I was ever exposed to. Can’t say in earnest that these guys reinvented a wheel or anything, but holy fuck as a youngster I came across some scattered live show footage of theirs and seeing mofos stagediving and hardcore dancing awoken something in a young me
9. Anton Rough
ANTON ROUGH GET FUCKED UP. This band is the fucking blueprint for real… It's kind hard to track down a semi-piss take myspace band who only ever put out a handful of demos but my fucking god this is what the fuck ive been trying to find in hardcore ae hahaha. So fucking raw, so fucking pissed, it’s just the most cathartic kind of hardcore that I know about and in this day in age it’s a privilege to be in on the secret. I mean, for fuck sake one of their mosh calls the bro calls out his actual fucking phone number on some fuck around and find out shit. I can’t fucking cope with how awesome this shit is.
8. Pig Destroyer
These guys were a gateway band for me to get into grindcore and later on powerviolence. I didn’t know music could be so fucking terrifying before them. I remember as an 11 or 12 year old tuning down my guitar to Bb Standard to learn their song “Loathsome” and being blown away that you could even tune that low. Crazy fuckn band.
7. Spazz
What a fuckn band. Truly spastic hardcore/ powerviolence but their lyrics are mostly piss takes and it clicked in my head that you don’t gotta be serious with this shit. Their lyrics are an awesome insight/time capsule of the Bay Area hardcore scene and 90s hc in general because they took the piss out of almost every band. Spazz got me into graf, kungfu movies, obscure 90s skate videos and got me out of my emo phase hahaha. Have a read of their lyrics to “Street Jam to the Second Power” - lyrics hit closer to home than it should in our scene haha.
6. Crowbar
The fucking riffs. Dino and Kirk are my biggest inspo for writing sludgy hard cunt riffs. Before their fuckn time. They’re not necessarily a hardcore band but some of their cuts wouldn’t be out of place at all. Crowbar is fucking hard. End of story.
5. Xibalba
Holy fuck this band is heaviness for real. I remember discovering the music video for their song Cold and if u haven’t watched it it’s this crazy fuckn cholo house show where cunts are just getting violent and shit… some fuckn flying elbows and definitely some KOs… cunts drinking hard and smashing the buckie, grilling up on the barbecue. From 14 years onwards I had the blueprint for my life sussed hahaha. Just so fucking nasty.
4. Pain Of Truth
The most recent band on this list, Pain of Truth is probably my favourite current band, along with Gridiron, Foghorn and Momentum. Pain of Truth represents NYHC and LINYHC and their fuckn first (and currently only) 7” is THE fuckn shit. If you are into late 90s/early 00s NYHC like BCS, Irate and Everybody Gets Hurt, you’ll fuck with this band so hard - Wouldn’t be out of place at one of those old shows at all. Their 7” is all killer and no fucking killer. Their live shows are hard as fuck too - real mosh moves, real stage dive shit, fun and violent hardcore like it always should’ve been. If you and the bros are tryna get fucked up I’ve got a drinking game for you - Find one of their sets on YouTube and take a drink whenever a guest vocalist comes on hahaha. People are going fucking nuts for this band and it’s clear as fucking day (day! day! DAYYYY!) why. Hit it up.
3. Irate
When the smoke clears and the dust settles you gotta recognise the fact that Vendetta is a fucking classic. Kind of a hardcore meme in a sense but I really like that song. Then I checked out their records proper. My fucking lord 11:34 and Burden Of A Cumbling Society are so fucking hard. Honestly, this entry into the list can represent all the old NY/NJHC bands, fuck heavy with Bulldoze, NJ Bloodline, Everybody Gets Hurt, etc, but for me personally Irate are king. No need to stay flowery about it, it's just fucking hard cunt mosh shit.
2. Snapcase.
SELF INHERENT FREEDOM COMES FROM WITHIN. This was the first hardcore band I ever got into and arguably my favourite band of all time. I love their fuckn riffs, I don’t think anyone as managed to sound like how they do hardcore since. Admittedly, I only paid attention to the lyrics far later than I should’ve but I found myself reading them when I needed to hear their message the most. They are partly responsible for a huge moral and lifestyle overhaul that has saved my conscience. Even though I was born the year they broke up for the first time, their music and message rings true. This is the first band I recommend to people who are new to hardcore too and their record “Progression Through Unlearning” is my pick for if I’m stranded on an island and can only have one album.
1. Severed Beliefs
Yeah this is a sentimental ass entry to be honest. I had always wanted to go to shows as soon as I started listening to this shit but shows worth going to were and still are non existent in Gisborne. I don’t really remember how but I remember coming across maybe the first or second post Severed ever put on their Instagram page with a picture of the band and a picture of the demo and, well, fuck man rest is history. Planted my fucking foot down, found out when they were playing next and decided I was going to get there anyway possible. That show was Elimination Fest, so I reconnected with my deadbeat, abandoning father in chances to see if I could stay with him to see this show.
Lineup was pretty fucking crazy in retrospect, Brainwave’s first show, Soul Void, Pale Flag, Severed Beliefs and Xile, who had just dropped world demise at the time. I remember walking into the aro valley community hall all worried, i’m not from these parts, I don’t know anyone, I don’t know how it’s gonna be taken. Severed took me in and made me feel at home and shit, Shout out to Ian and Jasper for making sure I was all good, and had a mean time.. thank you guys for picking me up in the up pit, for checking in on me between sets, for just being kind to a scared out of town kid. Then it was when I knew I had a home anywhere in Aotearoa. On a musical level Severed might be my favourite band let alone NZHC band. Phrases of Empty Repentance is an EP I’ll take to the grave… Shits a modern classic for us younger folk in NZHC - Without too much more dick riding I swear to god everyone I know my age in the game fucking loves Severed Beliefs and I look up to those brethas. Absolutely shred my fucking heart when they broke up but ‘twas amicable and all good things die young. RIP SEVERED BELIEFS ‘19-22.
What up-and-coming NZ youth bands should we keep an eye out for and what makes them stand out from the rest?
So stoked you asked.
One band I'm really stoked on is an AKL band called This Machine Means Murder, awesome emoviolence/fastcore kinda sound - Haven’t caught them live yet but their Instagram page and what they post on there is fucking awesome. This band is brand new with only a couple of shows under their belt and they're already fuckn so good. If you are old enough to remember napster, bearshare, angelfire and the ripping of obscure ass ebullition records bands, keep an eye on these guys. Powerhouse songwriters, incredible live performers from what I’ve seen recorded, and a band to ducking rally behind before
- FFO Charles Bronson, Orchid, Love Lost But Not Forgotten.
Shoutout to the Holy Trinity - Stacked, Head Lock Grave and Late To Chelsea.
These 3 bands hold down the entire all ages scene in Auckland and it's not even funny.
Booking the shows, Playing the shows, Keeping the shit alive… I think all 3 bands are in the studio right now, some sick newblood shit is coming real fucking soon.
Stacked: FFO Counterparts, Misery Signals, 7A7P.
They keep getting better and better. It's not funny. By the time they prepare to record a set’s worth of songs, they have already written new shit that trumps the last. Panic chords, Chugga chugs, Half-time China breakdowns, Contrasting . Constant evolution and upward momentum. When other bands run out of ideas Stacked reinvents the wheel. They fuckn reinvent the conveyor belt. While there are a lot of Greyscale bands that do a similar thing, Stacked commits to keeping their sound ever changing without cutting ties fully with their past. The way they work as a band and as a crew is so natural and back-able. If you like L3 NCEA Excellence level disses on High School Principals, If you aren’t afraid of real karate mosh pit goon shit, If you’re also not afraid to get vulnerable with your emotions on time to time. Their on the verge of dropping their first real endeavour into recording - If you like post-hardcore/metalcore, and would like the satisfaction of seeing the torch of this music in this country being passed into the right hands, stay posted for this release. Don't watch in indifference, this band is fucking tight.
Head Lock Grave: FFO Crowbar, Sick Of It All, The Accüsed
Honestly, this band reminds me a lot of Merauder because these guys are just fuckn solid players and have a real craftsmanship in the way they construct songs, but also draw a lot from hardcore. Can sure play some fuckn mosh metal that's for sure. These guys put on a charismatic, energetic ass show - Stage Dives, circle pits, singalongs, rarely any horseshoe pits. If you’re an old-head and/or appreciate thrash and groove metal with enough hardcore for the karate kids, and wanna observe some real shit in the modern era, don’t sleep on Head Lock Grave. This is no band to pontificate expressively among the proverbial flowerbeds of the cafe lounge or in this very documentation. It’s fucking metal bro.
Late To Chelsea: FFO The Chats, Amyl and The Sniffers, Pre-Rollins Black Flag
This shit is cool. I'm not usually too into the pub-punk thing like The Chats, but I'm pretty sure that's because NZ bands do this shit better. DARTZ is cool but honestly in this little subgenre I'm starting to believe that Late To Chelsea are rising kings of this sound. Smashton their bassist/vocalist may be the funniest cunt on stage ever, and the whole band dick around with each other. If Late To Chelsea were to play a show where they didn’t play a fucking note and just did improv comedy they would still be the most entertaining band of the night. Oh and yeah the tunes are mean too haha. They write crack up songs about slice of life everyday shit and it's a nice and lighthearted change of pace. What I love and what you should take away from this band is that the hardest I ever moshed, the loudest I ever shouted along, the drunkest I ever was… was during and too their fuckn classic, "Fuck Wasps". A song about how much of a cunt Wasps are and how they fuck up your day. It’s fucking Late To Chelsea, man! What else do I gotta say? They rule. Go to a show.
In general, the scene is ripe and the kids are doing cool shit again. There is an insane batch of really fucking talented and passionate kids who are just making their first steps into consistent scene work - Shout out to cats like Ollie Sparkles or the Severed geezers who have been putting on and taste making for years, realising the potential and raising the youngins to do this shit. Lifers raising lifers. Youngbloods with no old money.
If there was one nz band you wish you could have seen, who would it be and why?
Oh fuck bro that is a mean, mean question HAHAHA.
I’m gonna say it’s a draw between Damaged and Ricky Bobby. Those two bands I listen to all the time and all the time I’m fucking salivating at the thought of getting on a mean pile on and pulling out the rowdy ruthless pit shit… my fucking lord.
I think really and truly, if I could rub the genie lamp and get that wish, hands down I would wish to be at Hamtown 06… I watch that tape religiously and to me it holds the same gravity as some other legendary shows hold in others’ hearts like Hellfest 2000 (the REAL Hellfest) or TIHC…
Really proud of NZ. We could’ve just been another random island nation who would never of had a scene but thanks to all these older states-people of Aotearoa hardcore our country has quite the history to be proud of.
To end the interview, are there any last words or shout outs you would like to give?
Chur uncle!
First things first. If you came on this interview to talk some internet shit save your breath or come find me. No one has to tell me talk is cheap, I’ve talked more shit than you taken shits and I’ve promptly fucked around and dutifully found out - as it should be. If you’re some weenie ass TikTok ass fucking punk this hardcore shit isn’t for you and we never wanted you. 0223858295. FaceTime if you still have a problem trying to have a problem with me.
So fucking sick of trust-fund core in this country. So sick of these ACAB ass motherfuckers who are so unaware of themselves that they don’t realise that they are policing the scene into fucking oblivion. Come find me te ka nohi e te ka nohi for fucking real.
Shoutouts to Ngai Tahu, Ngati Porou, real youth NZHC, to the (Un)holy trinity crew, to Hamilton hardcore, To Elimination Records (RIP MOXHAM MANOR), To my real fucking mosh warriors up north and down in the Windy City, shout out Tairawhiti, Turanga-nui-a-Kiwa, my 4010 gs who can’t make out the Gtrap, My day ones, And real NZHC lifers like you legends at NZHCPP. Super grateful for the archival, history and work you’ve put in and continue to put in for Aotearoa.
Mighty proud of NZHC and you best believe that ima put the work in till these nuts hit the eternal grey.
Thanks for your time
Nah, thank you! It’s been a privilege and an honour. Cheers.