Devan: Who are you and what do you do in the band?
Dan: I'm Dan, I do the vocals and write the lyrics.
Devan: First off, Perverted Justice is an awesome ep. What would you say was your biggest influence for this record?
Dan: Hey thanks a lot man, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I can only speak for myself as far as influences go, I didn't write any of the music.. Definitely No Warning, Biohazard, Stigmata, Pittbull, Madball, and Pantera (to name a few) were strong influences at the time and still are today.
Devan: I've heard of you guys being compared more than once to the NY hardcore sound. Were bands such as Cro-Mags and other NY hardcore bands influences to your sound?
Dan: NYHC is clearly a huge influence on me as you can tell by some of those bands listed above. I know some of the other guys in the band are getting sick of that comparison, because we draw influence from all sorts of heavy music. As far as hardcore bands that we're influenced by, it's usually the ones with that NY vibe.. But yeah, Cro-Mags are a huge influence on us. Me and Sean used to be in a 'mags cover band several years back called Do Unto Others, we played a few local shows around SB and shit. Strictly AoQ jams. I think I ruined it for myself though because I can't play that record as much as the other ones anymore.
Devan: The first time I saw you guys was about a year ago in Fresno. The show featured about 60 people squeezed into 10' by 15' garage/bedroom lined with mattresses and tons more outside. Needless to say it was pretty fucking intense. Which do you prefer, the larger venue-backed shows or the smaller, more personal shows?
Dan: Man, we still talk about that show! So much fun. Well it depends on the show I guess, I mean, we definitely love playing in garages and houses and that sort of thing, because it's such a personal setting, as you mentioned. There's no room for people to move away so they have to stand up close. But if you have a big venue show that is packed the same way, it's not quite as personal but it has the same intensity. I remember growing up shows at venues would be completely packed up front. Nowadays there's usually a huge hole in the middle of the crowd cause people are too cool or shook to stand up front and take a couple hits.
Devan: How was it being included on the California Uber Alles compilation?
Dan: The CUA comp. was an awesome deal, put together by our friend Josh from Pressvre. I'll admit I was pretty surprised when we first got the tapes in and we were the first song on side A, but that's cool I guess. Several good friends of ours are on it, and it's cool to be considered an integral part of the current CA scene because we have such a long history of punk and hardcore in this state.
Devan: What has been the highlight of your band's progressing?
Dan: Highlights? Too many. I guess going from like, drunken backyard shows to Sound & Fury would be a serious highlight. Or this little tour we did to TX, we headlined a few shows on our first time out and kids were sticking around for us, singing along, moshing.. Stuff we never thought would happen. We were thinking before most of the shows like, "Oh these kids don't know who we are, nobody is going to stick around." And most of the time it would turn out amazing, or decent at the worst. We've been a band since like '05-'06 and honestly I thought we'd be broken up by now, so every show and every practice is a highlight for me.
Devan: What's your current state of mind on whats going on right now? The band, politics, anything? What's going on?
Dan: Haha man, I always have so much shit on my mind it's not even funny. If you ask the people I hang around, they'll tell you I have a lot of strange theories on the world and shit.. It depends on what I'm reading, going through, etc. I guess what's going through my mind lately has mostly to do with people's definitions of truth. If something is real and has real effects for an individual then how can it not be true? It depends on people's definition of the word "truth" as being a singular idealistic notion, and not something that can be defined by the individual. Like, outsiders to the scene will think like "oh those kids are just living a lie, it's a fantasy, they're avoiding the real world etc." But punk and hardcore has made me happier than probably anything in the world, and it's been a part of my life for 12 or 13 years now, so this is my subjective truth that I'm living. It's a reality to me, a fantasy to you; it's the real world to me and a waste of time to you. When I'm fifty, maybe I'll need to accept a different truth to make myself happy. Who knows. I think people would be a lot happier if they stopped thrusting their world views onto other people and people could agree to disagree. Sorry, reading this over it seems a little long-winded and metaphysical but hey, you asked.
Devan: Haha. Any plans for the future?
Dan: I have plenty of plans for the future, hopefully one day I'll make them happen.
Links to purchase music online can be found at the Downpresser Myspace page
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