This is kind of a strange interview cuz first of all
Craigums told me to pick the usual questions from their "frequently asked questions" section
on their homepage, I meen these guys must really be interviewed alot if they
have that kind of stuff. Second of all craig could't answer all the
questions because of the lack of available bandmembers at the moment. In any
other way he as a real cool guy that acctually likes Mando Diao(!) and work
with disabled people, dude this is a deep kind of guy, maybe he'll like Kent?
Anyway What happens next? might be one of the most populare thrashcore bands
in the world right now and, my god, they really deserve it. Very few bands
can match up with the tightness (is that acctually a word?) of WHN? and their
style. And speaking of good things with WHN?; they'll always deliever the
coolest hc record covers in the world (...kind of.). Anyway this is the
interview with Craigums from WHN?, read it then go out and skate, or BMX as
Craig would do.
Mark: Reading the WHN? FAQ page, I
think you're bored answering the same questions everyday. Is it true?
Craigums: It's not that we are bored with people asking us
questions, but when it is the same questions again and again then it is hard
to stay motivated to communicate with people through the band. By adding an
FAQ page we are skipping the boring parts and getting to good, serious
questions. We get no sense of who we are talking to if someone asks us the
same boring question: Who is in the band and what do they play? (If I am
reading an interview I always just skip over that part anyway...) But when we
get more involved questions it is more of an exchange. I can tell more about
the person from their questions if they are more thoughtful
questions.
Mark: Who is in the band and what do they
play?
Craigums: Devon sings and writes the lyrics, Max plays
drums, Robert plays the bass, and I play guitar.
Mark:
How/when did the band start?
Craigums: Devon and Max have known
each other for a long time from going to shows, and for almost as long they
wanted to start a band inspired by the early 80's European scene. In 1998 they
asked Chuck (from Good Riddance) and me to play bass and guitar, respectively.
We wrote much of what is now the first 7in and called ourselves Don't Be
Mistaken. But Chuck had a hard time making it to practice and when he failed
to make it to our first show we recruited Robert and changed the name to What
Happens Next?, partly as homage to Ill Repute, partly in response to the state
of our band at that point. Our goal was to play fast, politically-charged
music which was becoming less common in the San Francisco Bay
Area.
Mark: Are you a straight-edge band?
Craigums: No. Though some members of the band as individuals
identify themselves as SxE, I think as a whole we associate people with what's
in their mind rather than what they put in their bodies.
Mark:
What are your hobbies and influences?
When not taking foreign bands
around the country in his van, Robert hangs out with his wife and listens
almost exclusively to ZZ Top and Willie Nelson. I like to study sound and
listen to Weird Al. Devon is influenced by toys, comics and bad heavy metal.
Max likes all things DIY and thrash. His label - 625 Productions - has put out
about 20 releases a year of bands from all over the world, so I'd say they
provide much of his inspiration and influence, along with old bands like
Heibel, Heresy, Ripcord, etc…
Mark: Is 625 the best lable in
the world?
Craigums: If you think so. I know that Max can make
the best donut with his stomach fat out of all of us.
Mark: How
many bands have you (the band) acctually played in, cuz i think it's alot.You
only have to sum it up, no namedropping.
Craigums: The four of
us combined total almost 50 bands. There is a comprehensive list at
http://www.yourmother.com/whn/faq. (This is what I'm talking about/Red)
Craigums: All I can suggest is writing the filmographer, Carl,
at ih8thekids@hotmail.com It is not done yet but i HOPE it will be done
soon!
Mark: How long will you keep on going as a band? Will WHN?
be till you die?
Craigums: Robert recently moved 2000 miles away
and Max just started graduate school so we will be taking it very light for a
while. We also have plenty of other bands and projects to keep us busy. I
would like to never officially break up. They are my good friends so I see no
reason to quit the band. Devon and I have been in another band for 10 years
now and we have played one show in the last 6 years. It is always nice to have
an open invitation to rock with old friends when the oppertunity comes up.
Mark: One of your bandmates has a really cute beard. Do think he's cool
or do you pick on him all the time and call him grandpa.
Craigums: Beard = unique. Unique = cool. Mark: I follow.
What's with the whole Your mother thing?Is it just members from WHN? or what?
Please explain.
Craigums: Your Mother is my old band. I know I
just said that I don't prefer my bands breaking up, but YM stopped playing in
2000 because of lots of internal issues, only now we are better friends
because of it! No other WHN? guys were in YM.
Mark: But you
still have a website that states "Your mother, no longer a band, just a
website" or something like that. I've tried to access the YM web cam alot of
times but there's never any action going on! Why do YM webcam
suck?
Craigums: Because YM sucks. We broke up. "No longer a
band, now just a website!" Since we are only a website the only YM action
these days is inside Alan's computer - that's why all you see is Alan's
computer. We used to have a YM live practice-cam which was just a picture of
an empty practice space. The joke was that we never practiced. Ever. Every
now
and then one of the webcam images was Joe's cat peeing on the
drumset.
Mark: Who's the guy with the artistic skills. I've seen
your coverart and I adore it! Have that guy done any other covers or something
like that for other bands?
Craigums: His name is Shaun Filley
and his email address is: dirtyrottenarmy@hotmail.com He does some pretty
awesome stuff for lots of different people. He is drawing our next record
cover which is definitely our BEST cover yet.
Mark: What's the
best place to play: A place without scene up or with scene (I'm thinking about
the one you stand on).
Craigums: A place with a scene is almost
always harder to win over because so many people are jaded. But a place with
no scene often means no audience. Personally I would rather play in front of
people who have no idea what we are all about, but who are open-minded enough
to stick around and watch (or lazy enough not to leave).
Mark:
Ok, that's not exactly what I meant but sure. If you could play a show with
mosh all the time or circlepits half the time what would you
chose?
Craigums: Personally I grew up with circle pits so I
enjoy them. It is not so violent and you get to have style and actually dance
with your friends. Moshing and kickboxing and windmilling and all that just
separates people and makes for a more violent atmosphere. I'd rather go to a
show to connect with people, rather than get separated from them. I am
separated from people enough when I am in the outside
world.
Mark: What do you think about youthcrew? Is it pathetic
to believe in unity?
Craigums: As long as the cause is good,
unity is priceless - whether it's two people or a group of
people.
Mark: What contry produces the best hardcore
music?
Craigums: Every country makes good hardcore. Even
countries/states/scenes that make a lot of unlikeable music still have the
ability to produce something good. Sometimes it's having nothing that makes a
band stand out. If you live in the middle of nowhere and nobody is around to
influence you you are probably going to make some very interesting, unique
music. Conversely, if you live in an area where everybody sounds alike, you
can see what you do NOT want to be and make something definably
different.
Mark: Would you move outside USA if you had the
money? Where would you go? Why?
Craigums: I like Norway because
all the people I met were very nice and relaxed, and I like Australia because
there was a lot of good people and bands and attitudes.
Mark:
I've heard that there's like 200 kids at a lousy fishing village there, that
sounds really cool. Five most important bands throughout history?
Craigums: Oingo Boingo
HICKEY
The
Cure
Descendents
RKL
Mark: Are you planing on going to
Japan? I've heard you're really big there.
Craigums: No more
plans to go to Japan. We have all been there a lot of times with this band and
with other bands, and I think there are more places we would like to visit
that we have not visited yet. I would like to tour southeast Asia, South
Africa, Madagascar, Russia... Plus, I got severe bronchitis last time I went
to Japan because of all the cigarette smoke.
Mark: I've realised
that the only Swedish hardcore-bands americans know of is DS13. What do you
think about Swedish hardcore, do you know of any bands at
all?
Craigums: Don't forget ABBA and Ace of Base! I like a lot
of the more melodic bands like Randy and Diefenbaker and Fireside, but I also
like Refused and old Raised Fist stuff.
Mark: I think that AOB
will release a new cd, a future buy for you eh? Seriously my sister actually
bought one of their records in first grade or something. Are you planing on
going to Umeå? I've heard something like that.
Craigums:
Hopefully...
Mark: Have you toured any "strange contrys", I mean
any contry besides European, Southamerican and northamerican
contrys.
Craigums: Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Israel
were all sorta strange.
Mark: Now for some questions I allways
ask. Who's the coolest bandmate?
Craigums: Defnintely not
me.
Mark: Who should be kicked out of the band if you would have
to kick someone out?
Craigums: If we lost any one member of this
band it would no longer be WHN?
Mark: We've got some serious
unity going on here. 5 best band's from your town?
Craigums:
(past and present - and this list has nothing to do with the other
guys)
HICKEY
Anal Mucus
Girls Soccer
Neurosis
Huey Lewis and
the News
Mark: I love skateboarding and I believe you do to.
Have you ever had like a favorit skater or something like that. I've allways
liked Chet Childress and Tony Alva, what about you?
Craigums: I
like Tony Alva because he was such a punk but I was always more into BMX
freestyle. I like Mike Dominguez and Matt Hoffman and Dave Vander and Eddie
Fiola and Dizz Hicks.
Mark: Matt Hoffman is like the Tony Hawk
of BMX you could say. Is skateboarding something that should stay on the
streets and in the mini-ramps instead of getting shown on
MTV?
Craigums: I don't give a fuck. Skate because you want to
skate, who cares what other people are doing?
Mark: What's
painted on the back of your skateboards?
Craigums: I got a free
Titus board for recording a band so that's what I'm riding right now. And I'm
riding a Dyno, but only because it was free.
Mark: Does anyone
of you work? With what?
Craigums: Max is a full time student.
Robert is a union worker and a roadie. Devon works at a record store. I work
with people with disabilities.
Mark: Should you try to avoid
working as a protest, I guess it might be quite hard in the USA but here in
Sweden we have somethink called "social bidrag" (It basicly means that the
government gives you money if you have no work with taxpayers money. It has
allways been a punk-thing to use this so that you don't have to work. Right
or
wrong?
Craigums: As long as the person is using that money to
make their family/community better, then it's okay by me. If one is receiving
this money and spending their day playing video games, then the money and the
person it went to, and the program that gave it to them are a waste of time
and space.
Mark: Is 11 of september something that USA had
coming?
Craigums: It was not surprising.
Mark:
Should USA start war?
Craigums: Never.
Mark: Is
george bush a dick?
Craigums: Moron.
Mark: Is Bin
Ladin a dick?
Craigums: I coudn't say. I only know what the
media tells me about him. I'm sure he hates the US for very good reasons
though.
Mark: What do you think about the strong nationalistic
wibes coming out of USA after the 11 of september. We have alot of problems
with that in Sweden, what should you do about it.
Craigums:
It's all a load of shit. Tragedy is tragic, but more violence and racism is
not going to fix it. It won't even stop it from happening again - it'll just
encourage more! Education will help. Guns will not. Tolerence will help.
Corporate interests will not. George W Bush will not. War will not.
Mark:
Do you think that hardcore and punk is something that never ever is going to
change, will it allways stomp around in the same old
circles?
Craigums: It has changed IMMENSELY in the last 20
years. It will always change and that is what makes it so great. Natural
musical evolution that is undirected by corporate influence. Compare Filth to
the Ramones or Lifes Halt to The Damned. The music has changed a lot. Even the
ideas. How many old school bands would throw around the word 'fag' or have a
sexist song? Lots. Not so much nowadays.
Mark: Was Life's Halt
the best US hardcore band of the 90th or am I wrong?
Craigums:
They were pretty damn awesome!
Mark: What do you preefere:
Webzines or paper-zines, and why?
Craigums: I can't read online
zines because I don't have the time. I like reading zines when I'm at the bus
stop or going to the bathroom and I can't bring my computer to those
places.
Mark: Do you have any other projects besides playing
music. I'm talking about Zines, fixing gigs, website and so
on.
Craigums: I run a recording studio.
Mark: I
guess you're kind of tired right now, final words then good
night.
Craigums: Thanks Mark! Now I'm late for work!
