Tear It Up, in my opinion, are the best band in hardcore right now. All of their releases are great and they just finished up two tours, one of Europe, and one of the US. I interviewed drummer Matt through email on August 11, 2002.
1-Who's in the current lineup and what do they play?
M) Ok well its Dave on Vocals, Andy on Guitar, Me on drums, John on Guitar and Ryan on Bass. Ryan and John are the newest members.
2-How would you describe Tear It Up to someone who's never heard you, or any DIY hardcore?
M) We just play fast hardcore. We just like to get up and play fast and have a good time. A lot of our stuff has a real negative tone to it as far as lyrics go but we really love what we do so we have a good time when we play. Fast fun and hard. Yeah haha.
3-Who are your influences as far as songwriting and playing goes?
M) As far as playing goes my biggest influence is Black Flag. They're pretty much the best band in terms of getting out there to play the shows, they would play anywhere any time and would love it, even if the show wasn't so great. I loved that and I try to keep that attitude with Tear It Up. As far as song writing a lot of the Hardcore influence comes from bands like Black Flag, DRI, Poison Idea, and that type of stuff. A lot of early 80's stuff is what I'm into. I also listen to a lot of different music too and try to use that to help have Tear It Up make these albums where everything flows into each other, where they are all different songs but they all flow together to make the album. Lots of rock stuff or blues records get that flow a lot.
4-How were the European and US tours? Any stories to tell?
M) The tours were both great. We had to cancel 2 shows at the end of the US tour cause our van broke for the 3rd time and we just got it towed home so we had more time to get it fixed by a mechanic that we know and trust instead of getting fucked out on the road again. A good one is playing in Las Vegas, and seeing our old Guitar player Paul in town on vacation and him coming out to the show, or meeting an old friend of ours on rt 35 in Texas on his way to his band's next show and making him come to ours too. It was so rad we just saw him driving and were like oh shit!
5-Did you have any trouble in Europe with border policies or anything like that?
M) Naw we got lucky all the stuff we snuck in got there undetected, and we had no problems getting stopped at borders. We only got held up once and they didn't even search us, but we had all these real professional looking documents to say it was all promotional.
6-How long have you been playing drums and what inspired you to start?
M) I've been playing since I was in 4th grade so like 9 or 10. I really was just intrigued by the drums and how it all worked so I chose to play that in school. It was the 80's and most kids wanted to play sax cause that was cool in the 80's. I was actually supposed to play it with a neighbor of mine but I played drums instead and he was really bummed.
7-What kind of kit do you use? Do you prefer single or double petals?
M) I use a pearl kit. It's the same one I got when I was in 5th grade. That thing is a warrior I Beat the shit out of it and its still around. Its not the prettiest but I like it. I prefer single pedals cause I stopped using a double in 10th grade when it broke, and I just played fast hardcore from then on so I didn't need it anyway.
8-What's the Tear It Up songwriting process like? Who writes what?
M) The way it works or has worked is I'll get an idea of how I want a record to go like or flow, and write some songs to go with the outline, and then see what other people have written to fill in the outline and then write some more, or go hey write a song that sounds like this cause it'll fit perfectly there. Also sometimes Dave will give me lyrics and I'll just write a song around them. Instead of putting lyrics to a song I put a song to the lyrics. I think that's how it goes anyway.
9-What are you studying in college?
M) I'm studying to become a History teacher. I want to do high school so I can be with the most mature kids possible. I decided that I'll probably go for my masters so I can teach community college so I can wear what I want to and not have to not curse and stuff like that.
10-What's "EZ Pass=EZ Control" about? I've never heard anyone else mention anything like that.
M) Well in NJ they have a lot of tolls on the roads that I use and there's the EZ Pass which is a device that you put in your car and it deducts money off your credit card and you don't have to stop and pay the toll. Its supposed to get you through faster, but its really sketchy. They share information with the police so they can send you tickets for getting between 2 tolls too fast like well the speed limit is 60 and you got here where you would have had to go 80 so here is a speeding ticket. Its really an invasion of privacy disguised as convenience device.
11-Is "Frat Boys" in any way a homage to the Big Boys?(Sorry, I'm a nerd)
M) You know what I didn't mean it that way but I really love that band. I just was so pissed with the fact that my college caters to the frat mentality. I wouldn't mind it being so though, Frat Cars, right? That band was great.
12-Who is Henrietta Stark?
M) She was an ex- girlfriend of Paul's, our old guitar player. I never met her but according to him she's a terrible person and I trust his judgment.
13-What's your favorite song to play live?
M) Don't Call Me Tonight probably is. I think the breakdown riff in that is my favorite that I've ever written.
14-The three LPs, Just Can't Stand It, the ETA split, and Nothing to Nothing, all end with really powerful songs that are a little slower, but really intense and depressing. (Just Can't Stand It, Deathwish, and The End). Do you put these songs at the end on purpose to give it a sense of closure, and kind of "bring the house down", or is it just coincidential?
M) No, its totally on purpose. I try to give every record a song at the end that the whole record builds up and it culminates in the ending song. I try to end them all really hard, and intensely. Its all done on purpose. Secrets out now hahaha.
15-Do you have any plans for new releases/tours?
M) We're going to go to Eastern Canada for a few days in OCT with Think I care, and record a new 7in in October or November with the new line up. I'm really excited for it. Its going to be interesting to see how we work in the studio now.
Tear It Up Discography:
Tear It Up s/t 7 inch (Havoc Records)
"Just Can't Stand It" 12 inch (Deranged Records)
"Zero to Suicidal" 7 inch (Uncle Slam Records)
Split LP with ETA (Deadalive Records)
Split 7 inch with Fast Times (Young Blood Records)
Split 7 inch with Down in Flames (Busted heads Records)
"Nothing to Nothing" LP (Deadalive Records)
"The First Four Months" CD, containing demo, first 7 inch,and JCSI, (Deranged Records)
"Tear It Down, December 2000 Session" CD, containing "Zero to Suicidal" EP, split with ETA,and split with Fast Times(Coalition Records)
Tear It Up email- tearitup666@hotmail.com tearxitup@aol.com
Tear It Up Links
Deadalive Records-Order TIU Records/Shirts, as well as the Rites, featuring members of TIU
Havoc Records-Put out TIU's first 7 inch
Ebullition-Order TIU Merch here
Down In Flames-John of TIU's other band
