Corrosion of Conformity Interview - August 10th 1985

In August of 1985 the mighty Corrosion of Conformity played in Cambridge, Massachusetts at The Christ Church along with Post Mortem, PTL Klub, Executioner and The Offenders who were the buzz of the hardcore scene at the time. C.O.C had been around previous to this gig. I saw them a year before with Battalion of Saints and the Outpatients at the Paradise with the four piece line up, and also as a four piece with D.OA and The Freeze even before that at the Northeastern YMCA which held a few great shows for a little while (ummm, Void, Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law, Kilslug and Siege on one bill? Good times!) They always put on one of the most intense shows you could see around this time. Just a loud thundering wall of sound coming out of three guys. At this particular show I remember there were a number of fights, something happened with the PA at one point forcing the band to perform an instrumental version of "Loss for Words".

Also of note were openers Executioner, one of Boston's more underground metal bands at the time. The reason a lot of these shows were happening (metal bands and hardcore bands playing together) was a result of guitar player Marc Johnson who was booking a lot of these shows. Executioner in true Spinal Tap fashion emerged on stage as smoke machines went off which then set off the fire alarms, almost shutting the show down. Marc and Executioner really did play a huge role in the history of hardcore and metal in Boston and any discussion about "the scene" without mentioning him or his band would indicate "you weren't there". They certainly weren't the best band around but their presence was huge to kids like me. Also their song Victims of Evil was pretty awesome. 

I was doing a fanzine at the time called One Step Forward. I was interviewing some great bands, and even as an awkward quiet 15 year old I never felt like I couldn’t approach an artist for an interview. At one point I was introduced to Brian Walsby or became pen pals with him, I don’t remember. He may or may not have helped set up the interview but obviously at this point, I can’t remember. Also of note in the van with us was a young lady named Lisa Carver who later went by the name “Lisa Suckdog”. Her and I were pen pals and she came down to Cambridge from New Hampshire to see the show and sat in for part of the interview near the end. Her questions are, ummm, exactly as they were printed in my zine...I was 15 years old during this interview so some of the questions are obviously kind of bland.

In subsequent visits to Boston, even as late as the Blind era, Corrosion of Conformity always put on an intense show and Reed Mullin always took the time to say hello, remembered my name and was a generally great guy. They are apparently touring with this lineup soon and hopefully I’ll make it out to one of them. For more info on those new shows,  check out their website

The blurry pictures here are from the show. Once I get a scanner set up I will scan the pages from the actual fanzine.

 

An interview with Reed Mullin (drums) and some comments by Brian Walsby

OSF: Okay first off, where do you think you fit in: metal or hardcore?

Reed: Metal or hardcore? Definitely hardcore, don’t you think?

Brian: I think you’re definitely hardcore

OSF: Well, some people call you “metal”

Reed: Well look, I can’t even do a drum solo...Woody can’t play “Eruption”. I consider us more a hardcore band than anything else, lyrically and musically I think - (bassist/vocalist Mike Dean opens van door) Get out of here Mike Dean!

Mike: Huh?

Reed: Get out of here

Mike: No

Reed: Lyrically, definitely. I don’t think we have anything in common at all to do with heavy metal lyrics. We’re influenced I guess by Black Sabbath, Black Flag and Bad Brains.

Mike: I hate heavy metal

Reed: You don’t hate heavy metal, you’re just saying that to irritate people

OSF: When did COC form?

Reed: June 1982 in Woody’s basement. We just practiced a little, played parties and so on. When we started none of knew how to play so we did GBH covers and stuff like that

OSF: How would you compare this new record (Animosity) to the first record (Eye for an Eye)?

Reed: I like the first one a lot. I liked the songs, but I hated the production, the production was just really bad. It was really disappointing, and our old singer’s vocals were really bad on it. The new one, the production on side one of is a lot better

OSF: Who produced it?

Reed: The guys from Metal Blade...well we produced it, but it was engineered by them. It was recorded in a better studio. Side two was done at the same place we did “Eye for an Eye”

OSF: What do you think of Satanic lyrics?

Reed: I think they’re cool just because they open people’s minds. They irritate Christians I guess. As long as you don’t take it too seriously it’s pretty funny. I don’t know, that Satanic stuff has been so overplayed it’s cliche

OSF: Do you think you sound better as a three-piece?

Reed: Things move a lot faster because me and Mike Dean sing. All our old singers were really slow in learning lyrics. As far as live stuff, I think we’re lacking a bit. But our old singe he was a real nice guy, he just couldn’t sing. I think I like the three piece better

OSF: What do you do when no playing in the band?

Reed: I work for my dad as a secretary, and I set up all the shows in Raleigh. That’s about it, my job is nine to five.
OSF: How old are all of you?

Reed: I’m 19, our guitarist Woody just turned 20 and Mike is 20 or 21, I’m not sure.

OSF: What are you listening to for music?

Reed: Right now my favorite bands are Descendents, Honor Role, Bad Brains and Rudimentary Peni, that’s what I’m listening to most. I like millions of different things; I like Slayer, Exodus and Venom, and some reggae.

OSF: Who’s idea was it to cover “Green Manilishi”?

Reed: Well Woody was in a heavy metal band, heavy metal cover band before he was in COC and he used to do it so we thought it would be funny if we just tried it. We did it and thought it was funny so we kept doing it.

OSF: What happened last time you were supposed to play here?

Reed: Well we were ready to go, I mean everything was packed up and ready to go, and then our car wouldn’t start, and it was our alternator. We got a new alternator at the last minute  and while we were putting that if we poked a hole in the radiator.

Lisa: How did you get together?

Reed: Me and Woody went to school together for a while, and Mike Dean moved up from a southern city and we just started practicing in Woody’s basement

OSF: Do you guys like Elvis?

Reed: Which one?

OSF: Well I saw Elvis Presley stickers all over the van...

Reed: Elvis Presley was pretty cool I guess. All of these stickers are from Toxic Shock. They moved their store into a head shop and they had all of these stickers left over so we just took them

(some guy is is trying to look into the tinted windows of the van)

Brian: What the hell is this guy doing?

Lisa: Do you guys have advice for beginning bands?

Brian: Go metal, that’s where the bucks are!

Lisa: Do you get along with Boston Bands?

Reed: Which ones?

Lisa: Minor Threat

All: Minor Threat???

OSF: SSD, DYS...

Reed: I think all the Boston bands are great

Lisa: Do you have day jobs?

Reed: Woody works as a jeweler and I work as a secretary and Mike Dean works for me

Brian: It should be said that both Reed and Woody work for their own families

Reed: Brian Walsby mooches

Brian: I just mooch off of Reed

Reed: Brian Walsby’s a moocher

Brian: Hey Reed can I have some money, I’ll pay you back

Reed: I wanna go see The Offenders

OSF: Any last comments

Reed: Have a good day

OSF: Have a day

Restless Dreams of Youth

Growing up in one of these boring suburbs in the early 80’s, right when strip malls started showing up around Massachusetts, before the internet even seemed possible, just as I would discover the power of “word of mouth” via the punk rock scene a few years later I was hearing a little Rush here and there. They were kind of at the arc of their mainstream popularity at this time. Growing up around all types of music, I never really thought of music as being “uncool” or whatever, I still don’t. The fact that Rush is or was once considered a “nerds band” means nothing to me. I had a creature from the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual tattooed on me at one point and broke into a Dungeon Master’s house once to look at maps so my level of geekness means nothing to me, and I’ll never be ashamed of it. Whatever.

It wasn’t until I heard the live record Exit...Stage Left that I would start investing more time in this odd sounding band. Generally live albums at this time were either real important piece of a band’s discography (Live at Leeds, Blow Your Face Out, Kiss Alive and One More for the “What song is it y’all wanna hear” Road are a few), or just filler (Beatles at Hollywood Bowl, Stones - Still Life, etc). In discussions of Rush albums even when including live albums nobody really mentions Exit...Stage Left.

Exit...Stage Left HAS to be their best live record because it is from performances on the Moving Pictures tour. They were just coming off this amazing creative peak of that record, Permanent Waves, Hemispheres and A Farewell to Kings. This was the band at their hardest rocking as well as when they were learning to cut down the twenty minute suites to a more modest ten minute song. Just as 2112 can never be their best album (because it has the song Twilight Zone), Exit...Stage Left is the best live Rush album. The only reason I consider it remotely “important” in their discography is for purely personal reasons. It’s the album that really roped me in.

Just as the band was at their hardest rocking though, they put out a new album, Signals which has a different vibe to it than everything they had released. To my 12 year old ears it was a big surprise, in retrospect though it’s a natural progression. The band were obviously listening to a lot of The Police and probably partaking in a good amount of whatever they picked up on that train to Bangkok that one time. The main thing on this album though...synthesizers! This would also be the first album that didn’t have one of those long “ten minute” songs. Once I got down to the lyrics though, everything kind of clicked, especially the song and subsequent video for album opener Subdivisions which dealt with alienation in the suburbs.

A few months after this album was released, in December of 1982 I got to see the band for the first time at the Boston Garden with Rory Gallagher opening. I’ve since seen them on every single tour aside from Grace Under Pressure (doh!) and Counterparts.

Being a Rush fan all these years though, I haven’t loved every album. I think the last solid album they put out was Grace Under Pressure everything else has had a few great songs here and there, but nothing even close to those first ten studio albums which were for the most part (Twilight Zone...I Think I’m Going Bald...etc), perfect through and through. I like Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, but like a good amount of music from that era, the synths didn’t age well to my ears. One ironic thing about Grace Under Pressure is it is distinctly known as a “synth album”, but underneath those synths is some of Alex Lifeson’s best guitar playing to date. Sure it’s drenched in reverb, delay and chorus half the time. Check “Kid Gloves” playing throughout, especially the solo...also closing track, “Between the Wheels”. This is the closest Rush ever came to being “doomy” (with synths). Not really....anyway, check the solo in this song out.





Through the years I have met plenty of big music fans like myself and at some point or another discover a mutual admiration for the band that was never really considered cool. It’s great to be able to discuss the band still after all of these years and see that they are getting a little more respect thanks to some help from pop culture and generally surrounding myself with people who usually have good, or rather similar, taste in music.

I was lucky enough to work at a company for a bit that ended up releasing some Rush DVD’s, and our president was “friends” with the band. Every once in a while over the phone PA system one could hear “.....Alex Lifeson is on line one”. On the Snakes and Arrows tour I was invited to see the band via the president and attend a “meet and greet” before the show. We got to meet Geddy and Alex for a brief few seconds and then have our picture taken with them along with other people in our group. The seats we had for the show were of course right up front, maybe three rows back from Geddy. I finally was able to see the band close up after years of bad luck seeing the band from miles away, behind the stage, from a lawn, etc.


With the release of the great new Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, a tour where they are performing the entire Moving Pictures album, Rush are back in the um...limelight again. In the meantime the band will still be a big part of anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time with the band throughout the years. I’ll always keep every Rush album, even some of the crappy sounding live albums on my iPod. They are a big part of road trips for me. Grace Under Pressure is a perfect album to have on when drifting through unknown orange cities and dark small towns late at night. Permanent “Begin the day....” Waves is a great first drive of the day record, and so on and so on. From week to week, I’ll pick another album that is my favorite, able to spend days again playing the same songs over and over. Like very few great rock-based bands Rush has longevity and a catalog of music that I seem to never grow tired of.

Me at 16 or so