Jason Gascoigne from Strangers, Gravelpit

Can you please introduce yourself and tell us which bands you have been a part of?

My name is Jason Gascoigne, a lot of people know me as Face, we’ll get to that later. I’ve played drums in Wellington bands off and on since about 1999. I’ll have a crack at rattling them all off and saying something about each.

1KG (1999-2000) This was my first band in high school. It was essentially 4 teenagers playing covers of bands we’d all recently gotten hooked on: Bad Religion, NOFX, No Use For A Name, Millencolin etc. Think we started writing originals towards the end. After a rockquest regional finals show, we got offered a show playing with Brubeck in Upper Hutt. I remember that being so huge for us, as we were big fans and those guys are great friends of mine to this day. Chris Calavrias played guitar in this band, he’s killing it in his band Stalker!

Floorpie (2000) Floorpie were an awesome young Wellington punk band, played some amazing shows at Thistle Hall in the late 90s. The name is a Simpsons reference. I met their bassist Seb through the internet. There used to be a website called worldwidepunk that listed bands from all over the world. I was always a nerd for doing websites for my bands, and with 1KG appearing on the first page of results, Seb had found us and reached out to meet up.
I remember going out drinking with him and a few mates and he noticed me drumming along to Lagwagon on my knees at a party and asked if I’d be interested in joining Floorpie, as they were struggling a bit with their drummer at the time. I learnt their songs and would practice with them out in Johnsonville weekly, I got a lot better at drumming jamming with those guys.  
Their original singer Mark Leong (who’d go on to be in PedalFaster and So So Modern) had left the band by the time I’d joined, Matt Sherborne from Channel 13 had stepped in on vocals. He was pretty busy with C13 and Floorpie was pretty much a side-project for him. I remember playing 2 shows with Floorpie before it wrapped up. The first was a housewarming gig at Blair Jones’ place in Aro Valley, the last being at Thisle Hall.

Sheriff Lobo (2001-2002) A continuation of Floorpie and again a Simpsons reference for a name. Jeremy, who was the guitarist took up vocals, and we added a second guitarist, Tim Shann who I think was 14 at the time? Everything was faster and more technical than Floorpie, and pretty heavily influenced by Fat Wreck bands like Lagwagon and Strung Out.
We put out a 4 song demo and played our first out of town shows in Auckland, where we were looked after very well by Sims from We Dunno, cheers mate! A lot of gigs in Wellington playing support for bands like Brubeck, Blake, Sommerset, Kitsch and Dayone.
Jeremy moved to Auckland in 2002 to study Audio Engineering and we called it a day after a final show in the kitchen of 13 Garrett Street, which is a notorious Wellington flat that just seemed to get passed down from group to group over the years.

The Minimals (2002)  The Minimals were a band out of the Hutt Valley who were fun as hell to watch live. I remember them upstaging some pretty big local bands and there always seemed to be beerbongs involved in their live show. Their drummer developed RSI in his wrists and I got the call to join. We did a North Island tour with Blake, playing Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Napier. This was my first time in a tour van and those Blake dudes partied Haaard.

Shumway (2003) Dan Fraser had been a fixture of the Wellington scene from a really young age, playing in bands like Deaf Terrorists. I’m pretty sure we got talking outside of a drum n bass show on Edward street and him asking me if I was into bands like At the Drive In and Refused, as he had some songs he’d been working on. He gave me a tape of these songs he’d recorded all the drum and guitar parts for on a 4 track recorder he had and I was blown away. It wouldn’t be the last time I’d learn Dan’s drum parts, and he was instrumental in pushing me to improve and grow as a drummer. Tim from Sheriff Lobo played bass and Dan (DJ) Jeffrey sang. We put out a self-released EP ‘Jeffrey Dhamer and Greg’ and played some great shows at Broadway in Palmy (shout out to BCH) and Wellington, including one at the recently destroyed 128 Able Smith St, RIP.
My nickname ‘Face’ came about during the Shumway days. One of the guys in the band had a mate at Uni that was working on a photography portfolio and had asked to take photos at band practice. I remember he came back with the developed film, and there was this photo of me mid-song, strained and just looking like an absolute goon. I can’t remember whether it was DJ or Dan that coined ‘Jase the Face’? I wish someone still had a copy of that photo, I’ve made some stupid faces drumming over the years, but this was the absolute pinnacle.
Shumway came to an abrupt end at a Tropicana themed show at Thistle Hall…

The Deadline (2004-2005) Dan was drumming for The Deadline in their early days, and his time in that band also wrapped up at said Tropicana show. I was asked to drum for them and spent hours learning their set from a MiniDisc someone had recorded from a recent show of theirs at Valve. Dan is and was a monster and I remember having to work really, really hard to learn his drum parts.
I played my first show with The Deadline at ‘Hardcore 2004’ at YouthZone in Hamilton. A couple of months later and we got the call to support Sick of It All in Wellington, which was mind blowing. I still rate SOIA as one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.
Rhydian moved down to Wellington not long after and joined as a second guitarist. We had a great run of shows, including the highs and lows of the North Island Tour with Sydney’s Stronger Than Hate.
Things had changed, and by the end Rhydian and I were also in both Guest Stabs Host and Damaged at the same time. I’m pretty sure our final shows were for our album release in July 2005? We did 2 shows at Valve, an AA and R18. Guest Stabs played support on one show and Damaged on the other show, so I played 4 sets that night.

Guest Stabs Host (2004-2006) When Rhydian moved to Wellington, he came with a pile of riffs that wouldn’t necessarily fit The Deadline and asked if a few of us were interested in doing another band, so GSH was started with James, Simon and I poached from The Deadline, along with Rich Burns on Guitar. I’m pretty sure Rhydian got the bug for that style of heavy hardcore from the first Hatebreed tour of NZ in 2002, it had that effect on people.
We played our first show at the end of July 2004 at the Cross in Wellington, supporting Kill Me Quickly and 21 Guns. People went apeshit, I can’t recall a better response to any ‘first show’ I’ve done for any band.  There would be shows where people would be moshing before I’d finished the 4 count to our first song. Our set at Hamtown Smakdown in 2005 was wild. Another early highlight was supporting Terror in Hamilton after ‘One with the Underdogs’ came out and just buzzing out that night on Hardcore and what it could all be.
GSH toured New Zealand with our buddies DIAL, kicking off with a show in Nelson that was so poorly attended it often makes me laugh thinking back. I have a lot of fond memories of that era, a bunch of people piling in a van for long drives just talking shit for hours.
Eventually our influences changed (Simon had left and was replaced by Kalem, Rich had left and was replaced my Michael ‘Boob’ Schibli) and we started writing news songs very different from the demo – Rhydian did a writeup for Up the Punks a few years back that explained his thinking around that better than I could.
We debuted those new songs at the poorly attended ‘Hardcore 2006’ at 420 in Auckland. After a couple of line-up changes and the realisation that this was now a different band altogether, we changed the name to Strangers.

Damaged (2005-2007) I’m pretty sure I first met Wadsy and had a yarn at a Battles in the North Show in Auckland (going to say during that brief time he played sgiws in Kill Me Quickly?) I bumped into him a few months later at Real Groovy in Wellington, he’d just moved back down after his stint in Wellington and talked about Jamming. Can’t remember whether he asked me or Rhydian first, but we got together and worked on some stuff they’d both written. Both are great guitarists and writers.
I think we asked Fuzz to join on bass pretty shortly afterwards. Boob would join as a second guitarist at some point. We played a lot around the North Island: Wellington, Palmy, Hamilton, Gisborne, Auckland, even a cow shed in Purangi (Cheers Rex!)
Playing with Ringworm and a 3 show run with Madball were definitely highlights for me.
We were working on a second record (working title ‘The Burial’) but it never got finished before we called it a day. Wadsy moved back up to Auckland, Boob had moved to the UK and we played 2 last shows with Boozy filling on guitar.

Strangers (2007 – 2010) After the name change from GSH, we recorded the ‘Holding’ demo with Otis Chamberlain. It was an abrasive and aggressive representation of who were as a band and I don’t think our future recordings ever quite recaptured that.
We put some money together and recorded the ‘Weight’ album and ‘Night Minutes’ 7’ with Troy Kelly at STL studios in Wellington. It was my first proper studio experience and while I’m proud of the songs, our playing and the recordings, I don’t think we ever really truly nailed our sound on those records.
Our 2008 Australian tour was up with there with my favourite times in a band, so many funny memories and times I’ll never forget.
Our line-up changed a few times over that couple of times, with James Murray, Rich Burns, Boob and Ben Wards all playing guitar at one stage. The line-up changes as well as ongoing stylistic changes wore us down, not before releasing the ‘Children’ EP in March 2010. We actually delayed the breakup of Strangers by months after getting the call asking if we wanted to play with Converge, who we were all big fans of. We played one last show in the lounge of Garret Street and called it a day.
Listening to Strangers these days is bittersweet for me with Kalem no longer with us, his presence is all through those records and I can get quite emotional when I hear them. Man, I miss that dude so much.   

Shortlived (2008) Definitely not counting myself as a member here, but I did fill in for 2 or 3 shows with them. Their singer Sam was in the States for months at a time and I think Dan was kicking about the idea of him getting out from behind the kit and singing, having me play drums so they could play a few shows? Sam gave it his blessing and there I was again, working really, really hard to learn Dan’s beats. Shortlived absolutely ruled live and that’s easily the fastest stuff I’ve ever played.

Uranium Breath (2009-2010) I was a huge Brubeck fan growing up. Paul and Dave were always cool and accommodating of me as a young punishing fan boy, sometimes having Seb and I carry bags of gear into R18 shows so we could get in. So it was pretty amazing to me that years later, they’d reach out and ask if I wanted to play in a thrash metal band with them! We spent a fair while working on these awesome songs about nuclear apocalypse (as you do in thrash bands). I think it was Vanya who said ‘You were in Uranium Breath aye? What a waste of a good band name, you only played 2 shows’.

Gravel Pit (2015 onwards) Started off as a Bad Religions covers band project with a bunch of mates in 2015 that never got around to playing a show. Dave eventually started writing original songs, and we just kept at it. A couple of people left due to other commitments and for a while it was just Dave and I tinkering on his new songs. The lineup was completed by Bailey on Vocals and Matt on Bass. We played our first show in Nelson in December 2018 and have been pretty active since, putting out 2 EPS. It’s been a really fun to be part of, and it’s definitely a band I’d listen to if I wasn’t in it, which is always the goal.

STRESS (2018 onwards) Otis Chamberlain is an absolute icon in Wellington, both as a musician and an artist. STRESS was a project he’d been trying to get off the ground when he was living in Melbourne, but could never get a lineup together? Him and Callum worked remotely on the project while Otis was in Melbourne and later San Francisco. Once he moved back to Wellington, he put the feelers out to myself, Alex Backhouse and Ben Dentice to complete the live band. Otis is an amazing musician and again, I had to do a lot of work to learn his drum parts. It was hugely rewarding challenge, particularly as I hadn’t played live in a band in almost 7 years at the time. We had a great run of shows in 2018/19, and while the band is kinda dormant right now, there’s probably some unfinished business there when everyone has the time?

Old Loaves (2019 onwards) I was at their first show at Garret Street and loved their first EP and their ‘Drower’ Record. Such a great band. Their drummer Cam, who I greatly admire, left the band after the release of their second record ‘Banks’ and I was asked to join. Couldn’t say no!

How did you discover hardcore/punk/metal and what bands were around at the time?

When I was a kid and my parents would go out, our next-door neighbour’s older boys would babysit us at their house. They had Guns N’ Roses posters all through their room and I remember thinking they looked dangerous! They were definitely the first band I remember being into. Cooler older kids in primary school would buy rock and metal magazines and I’d all hear about metal that way. I got into Nirvana and Pearl Jam, that whole grunge sound pretty early on too.

The biggest gateway to punk and hardcore for me was my mate Peter Joyce, who sang in 1KG. He’d come to NZ with his family from Hong Kong in 1996. He said ‘oh you guys still listen to grunge, you should check this out’ and showed us the Fat Wreck Chords compilation ‘Survival of the Fattest’. It was a new sound for me at the time, and hearing bands like Propagandhi, Strung Out, Lagwagon, NOFX, Good Riddance etc all in one go was mindblowing. That sent me spiralling down that Californian punk sound for years.

I went to my first local punk show at Thistle Hall in April ‘97. Muckhole, Pig Benis, Diecast and WGI (Walking Groin Infection) played and that left a pretty big mark on me.

I got more and more into NZ bands like Brubeck, Blake, Kitsch and Sommerset. I saw Dayone for the first time at the ‘Day in the Life’ compilation release at Thistle Hall and they absolutely blew me away. They 100% opened the floodgates to heavier hardcore for me.

How has COVID affected you as a band and did you learn anything from it?

This year has been so surreal. I think if you were told a couple of years back what 2020 would actually pan out to be like, you wouldn’t believe it. We’re not a big touring band or anything, so it’s not like our livelihood has been at stake because of it. Gravel Pit were a couple of weeks away from supporting Lagwagon, who are absolute heroes of mine, and I doubt I’ll get that chance again. That sucked for sure, but there are so many bands, promoters and venues out their struggling because of this, it definitely puts my little gripe in perspective.

Lessons from COVID? I would have to say it’d be to not take things or people for granted. As a band we had months of not being able to see each other in person, get together to practice or talk rubbish in our shed. Shows were off the table and so was your form of artistic outlet. Be grateful for who and what you have.

We’ve been were fortunate enough to a couple of shows after the 2 lockdowns and it felt pretty amazing to do so while most of the rest of the world is unable to.

Describe the current Wellington punk,hardcore and metal scene?

Real healthy. So many great bands of all different genres going in Wellington these days. Ayn Randy, Unruly, Rogernomix (goddamn national treasure), Unsanitary Napkin, Bowel Rupture, Piggery, Stalker, Spook the Horses, Happy Valley, Total Ruin, Starving Millions, Cold War, Glassblower, Pvinsher, Severed Beliefs, Stress Ghetto, DAHTM, Brainwave, Bordger. Probably forgetting a ton, sorry.

Line-ups in Wellington tend to pretty mixed and diverse, which is something I’ve always enjoyed here. There’s definitely been a heavy dose of d-beat, grind and sludge influence here for ages and it makes for some pretty awesome bands.

I’d say there hasn’t been the strongest all ages scene down here for a while, so you end up with new various permutations of bands from the same people. There has been an influx of motivated younger people putting in work for shows down here lately which is refreshing. 

Favourite venue to play at past or present and why?

#1 - I’d have to go with Valhalla in Wellington. I’m coming up on 20 years of playing and going to shows there and it just feels like home. I’ve seen so many incredible gigs there, played so many memorable shows. It really feels like a scummy home away from home.

If there was one New Zealand band you wish you had of seen live who would have it been?

Promise of Bloodshed. The best metallic hardcore to come out of New Zealand in my opinion. I missed their initial run entirely. GSH were on the line-up to play their reunion show in Auckland and my shitty car broke down just outside Samson on the drive up! Absolutely spewing, pretty sure I kicked a decent sized dent in that car that day.

Which are your top 5 albums that influenced you the most over the years and are there any new bands you are currently listening to?

Hard to narrow this down to just 5 for influence!

Metallica – Master of Puppets
Debate rages about the best Metallica album but Master of Puppets was one of the first albums that for whatever reason made me want to start playing drums. Still listen to this regularly.

Strung Out – Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues
I loved Strung Out’s mix of punk and metal, but there’s something about the speed and precision of the drumming on this record that just blew me away. Jordan Burns was easily one of the my most influential drummers on my playing, and I have ripped fills and beats of his in almost all of my bands.

Propagandhi – Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes
I enjoyed the first 2 Propagandhi records, they were ahead of their Fat Wreck peers in terms of playing, message and technicality, but there were still elements of that NOFX goofy vibe about them. In the 5 years between Less Talk More Rock and Todays’ Empires, bassist John K Samson left and was replaced by Todd Kowalksi. Gone were the goofy elements and their place was a massive infusion of hardcore and thrash. The songs were harder, the playing infinitely better, and there are lyrics on this record I’m still unpacking 20+ years later. Purina Hall of Fame may well be my favourite closer to a record ever.
It’s not their best record (that’d be Supporting Caste in my opinion) but the most influential and game changing to me.

Sick of it All – Scratch the Surface
I think I discovered SOIA during their stint on Fat Wreck Chords and worked backwards through their discography. Scratch the Surface just stood out for me, it’s got such a distinctive sound. It’s got it all, speed, groove, fury. The rhythm section of Armand Majidi and Craig Sitari is absolutely one of the best in the game.

Ringworm – Birth Is Pain
I’m a sucker for the Cleveland sound, and Ringworm’s second record is my one of my favourite examples of fusing metal and hardcore. You can still be heavy as tuned to E. Human furnace sounds like an absolute demon and I just never get sick of this band or record.

Some new stuff over the last few months I’ve enjoyed:
Faim – Hollow hope
Gulch – Impenetrable cerebral fortress
End – Splinters from an ever-changing gace
Napalm Death – Throes of joy in the jaws of defeatism
Speed – 2020 Flex
Initiate - Lavender

Any shoutouts, last words or advice for the up and coming youth currently doing bands in NZ?

Shoutout to anyone who is still reading this punishing stroll down memory lane.
Cheers to Gareth and Bones for the work on New Zealand Hardcore Past & Present, I think it’s awesome what you guys are doing to document what’s gone on in NZ Hardcore.
Shoutout to everyone mentioned above and all my bandmates past & present.
Advice for young bands? Foster meaningful relationships with likeminded people, artists and bands in your city and across the country. Work hard. Be hospitable to travelling bands. Be respectful. Denounce racism and homophobia. Read Henry Rollins ‘Get in the Van’. Don’t take yourself too seriously.