(Anthony) You've never gone on to form or join another band after VA, despite writing several essays over the years about how much music means to you. What's your reason for staying away, where have you been and what are you up to now?
(Chris) My time in VA will always be the best of my life. When you're young, you think you'll be playing at these shows until the day you die, but as you get older you realize you've outgrown it, to a point. I still do a few festivals a year to sell merch, peddle my essays and teach you youngsters about music. I never wanted to be known as that guy who was in one good band and 10 mediocre bands. VA was the right band for me at the right time. I gave me what I needed out of music, and established lifelong friendships and ideals based on that music. These days I don't go to too many shows or buy many new records. There are still good bands out there but they're few and far between. After VA split up I went to school and earned a history degree from the University of Mass/Amherst. I was a tour manager and roadie for several years for a few different bands, including Belly for two years. Last year I bought into an Italian restaurant in Newport called Puerini's, I'm a partner and part time sous chef. It's the most punk restaurant in all of Rhode Island!

(Chris) The modern-day punk & hardcore scene seems to have so many "rules" and "codes of conduct." It's always had that element a bit but it looks to be getting worse. Is it that way or am I getting old and jaded?
(Anthony) I've definitely noticed that. At some shows it's like being in the fucking army. Kurt gave an interview to an online zine back home, they asked him about other bands he'd been in and he talked about a psychadelic pop band he played with back in Allentown. There were some responses on the website a few days later saying shit like "Thanatos isn't hardcore, they used to play pop music!" Give me a fucking break. I heard a song on a Bridge 9 comp called "Keep Pea Coats Out of Hardcore," I wore my pea coat to a show we played in Wilkes-Barre a few months ago and a bunch of dickheads kept shouting that at me. You've got to dress, talk, act a certain way or you're "not punk" "not hardcore." If you want that shit, join the military. Punk and hardcore kids, we've already spent most of our youth and teen years being outcasts from everyone else, it shouldn't be that way at the one place we go to get away from all that shit. We just want to have fun.

(Anthony) What's the biggest difference you notice between the scene & shows today as opposed to the mid-to-late 80's?
(Chris) The lack of fun aspect we talked about. Also the lack of work ethic. I know I'm showing my age, but it's a whole different game now with the internet, and home recording. Nowadays you record a batch of songs in someone's basement, put it up on MP3.COM and kids across the country can hear you. There's no incentive to pack five kids into a van and drive criss-cross America. Back then that's the way it was, you didn't turn on the radio or walk into a chain record store and hear the music we were playing. It was all cassette tape trades, word-of-mouth. When you saw a flyer for a show in your town featuring bands from 10 states away, you just went, end of story. That element seems like it's missing now. Going on tour with VA really opened my eyes to that, like any good traveling does. There are still bands out there fighting for the cause, new blood with old ideals. There are positives too, like the scene still seems to carry that unified distrust of political authorities and the uglier aspects of consumer culture. And kids at the shows still understand it's better to make yourself heard than have others speak for you, I always thought that was an important part of the underground scene.

(Chris) You've been on the bill with a few of the bigger names in today's hardcore scene. What kind of vibe or attitude do you pick up from those shows, from the bands themselves and the kids in the crowd? Do you feel more positive or negative after most shows?
(Anthony) Half and half. Like I said before, some people in the crowd, and in the bands are like the mean kids in 80's movies, from the moment they walk in the door they're looking around, insulting anyone who's not dressed like them, all that bullshit. Some of the shows are so angry. Punk rock and hardcore have always been about uniting against the rest of the cruel world, singing about shit that pisses you off, but it's still supposed to be fun, otherwise what's the point? We opened for Dark Day Dawning in Philly a few months ago, their songs are all dark and moody, screaming, typical Resurrection-AD records stuff, but Matt still spends the whole show giving high-fives to everyone up front, throwing water, making jokes, laughing. And the total opposite tonight, none of the Terror guys could crack a smile all night. We talked with them at the merch table, no fun, nothing. They were all business all night, like it's an act. They were tight as hell, sounded fucking great, but man a conversation with them was like a police interrogation. There's a lot of that shit now. There's that saying from the Rain On the Parade song, people use to describe some old school bands, people have said it about us a few times, about having the "spirit of 88" because that was such a great time for shows and bands. I've only seen it in old videos but it looked a lot different.

(Anthony) Do you feel as though VA has its rightful place in punk/hardcore history? So many of the guys from the Dischord & SST days have stayed in the spotlight with other bands, like Ian MacKaye, Brian Baker, Rollins. Are you ever afraid the VA name might fade since you didn't do the same?
(Chris) I'm proud of what we accomplished, I know where we stand in the long run and that's what matters to me. Especially since we were from Rhode Island when most of the action at that time was happening across the country in California. It's amazing to meet and hear kids tell me how much VA meant to them and how great we were, but honestly if that never happened again I'd be satisfied with what we did and where we'll be in the history books. We were one of the only bands at the time, like D.I. and Dag Nasty using two guitars to have a more layered sound. And I say that with all humility, I'm not a conceited dick like Rollins who thinks his time in punk is its own paradigm in the universe. We started doing what we did for us, we grew to be part of this great scene, suddenly it was like we were all one, unified. And that's the way it has to be, balanced. There are still bands out there fighting the good fight, like you guys, making believers out of new kids with every show. I know we helped build that, and I'm proud of it, that's enough for me. I'd rather fade into the background quietly than feel like I overstayed my welcome.

(Chris) What made Thanatos want to be a part of the scene, and what's next for you?
(Anthony) That unity, camradrie we talked about before, fitting in with the scene when we've never fit in anywhere else. For being in a positive hardcore band, Kurt and I are both really negative people, writing our songs and playing the shows, it's like therapy. It's hard to say what's next, It's always been Kurt and I talking about doing a hardcore band together. We finally lived close enough in PA to make it happen and we met the other guys who would form Thanatos. We all became friends and now it wouldn't feel right to carry on without everyone. In a few weeks Sammy's leaving for college in Philly, I'm always moving around, Kurt and Justin are both family guys with wives and kids. We've had so much fun, played a lot of awesome shows with some great bands and had a good run, when the time comes we're just gonna pull the plug and be happy with what we did, like you said. We're hoping to record all the new material we have and release it before that happens. We're a small town band, not gonna be in a position like VA, remembered by millions and talked about years later or anything, but in less than a year we've met so many cool people and been a part of something that's inspired us. We've helped to carry on a tradition, knowing that is enough for me as well.