Please tell me a little about every member, age, family, work, interests and something bad about every one?
-Kash - 27 years old. Kash, a Muslim Brooklyn native, went to school for toy design, and currently works in the video department of a major talent agency. In addition to his work as vocalist for Bad Reaction, Kash is a talented artist. He originally planned to use this talent in the field of toy design, something at which everyone who has had the opportunity to see his sculptures agrees he would excel.
Ben Edge - 27 years old. Ben is an LA kid, born and bred. Up until the
formation of Bad Reaction, Ben served as the lead vocalist for hardcore
band, Fields of Fire. He has his bachelors degree from the University
of California at Santa Barbara. Although Bad Reaction does not classify itself as a Straight Edge band, Ben, as is obvious from his name, had been part of the Straight Edge scene since he was a kid. He works at Trader Joes, a
chain grocery store.
Jesse A. - 33 years old. Jesse is the old man of the group. He comes
from a street punk background, and managed to balance the nineties between a lot of extreme drinking in squats around New York, San Francisco and LA, and getting his Bachelors Degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Modern Literature. He is currently a thesis film away from receiving his MFA in Film Production from the University of California at Los Angeles. He works as a stagehand in the Southern California area, setting up concerts, conventions, and other events for rich people with too much time and money on their hands.
Nick Rips - 17 years old. Although he is much younger than the other
members of Bad Reaction, Nick comes to the band with a good amount of
experience, having just finished a stint as drummer for the classic hardcore band Dr. Know. He is extremely well-versed in hardcore punk for someone his age, and had brought a fresh enthusiasm and energy level to the band in the last month during which he has been a member of Bad Reaction.

 

My review of your record is like this IBAD REACTION-SYMPTOMS OF YOUTH(CD-DESTROY ALL RECORDS DAR 074) It's not so many black people involved in the punkscene. Sure we have had Bad Brains and some more
but so much more than that is it not. Here comes Bad Reaction to change this
and they have a black singer. That I like…once upon a time I didn´t like American hardcore but it was changed and I don´t know why I didn´t
like it. This group have listened very much on early American groups like DK,
Bad Brains, Minor Threat and of course early Black Flag. Wonderful songs
and the anger lightens up their eyes. Do you like early 80´s punk from USA
so is this a record you can be without….(EIGHT) 22/9-06 What about it?
-Jesse A.:
Thanks for the review. We're glad that you understood our influences, as it's very important to us. We try to play eighties hardcore punk with our own twist, but because we add our own flavor to our music, sometimes people think of us as outside of the Hardcore Punk genre. We like to think that we don't sound exactly like any one of our influences, but that we sound instead like we could have been a band from that era. We don't want to BE Minor Threat or the Bad Brains, we want to sound like a band that could have played with them.
Kash: Yeah.

Is there any other bands you´re being compared with?
-Jesse A.: We get a lot of pretty diverse comparisons within the hardcore genre. We've been compared to everything from the Freeze to Minor Threat to early Black Flag, and many more, some that we don't always agree with. One major influence for us is the Zero Boys, a hardcore band from Indiana that was blazing fast, but were excellent musicians and incorporated some melody into their aggression. Playing in LA we've had amazing opportunities to play with a lot of the bands that influenced us, including opening up for Angry Samoans, Dr. Know, Battalion of Saints, Youth Brigade, Adolescents, CH3, DI, TSOL, and many more.
Nick: I compare us with, Zero Boys, Descendents, and Minor Threat.
Ben Edge: Zero Boys!
Kash: I often hear Zero Boys and Bad Brains, though I think the Bad Brains comparison comes from our live show. We try to go off & out of control live as much as possible.


Do you care about reviews?
-Kash: Fuck. They help me buy records sometimes…
Jesse A.: I'd be lying if I said that we didn't care about reviews at all. Everyone wants people to get what their doing. We don't care so much if people like us or not, as long as they understand what we're trying to get across, and respect us for what we're trying to do. We would love people to become fans of the band, and for them to come out to the shows and let us know that they appreciate what we're doing, but we're not going to change what we play to try to win fans over. We're in this band because it's the kind of music we love, and because we want to make records and play shows that we'd like to hear and see ourselves. If people like what we're doing, great. If not, we'll still be here. We're not trying to become rock stars.
Ben Edge: Yes. People read them and make buying decisions accordingly.
Nick: Not really, I guess they are good for kids to know what the people in the band they are listening to is like but other than that not really.
 

Do you get many comments on the fact that you have a black singer,
and that’s not so many bands which have, not in the punk style?
-Kash: While I’d like to think we don’t we definitely do. There’s been plenty of cases of after a show people running up to me and being blown away. First they’ll tell me it’s because we went off so hard and played like we were an 80’s HC band and secondly because I’m black. It seems like it’s hard for people to grasp but it’s rarely if ever negative.
Nick: People don’t make so many comments about it, its kind of how they identify us though, I guess you could say that’s our catch. (Laughs)
Jesse A.: We do get some attention because our singer is black. While it isn't
extremely common for a singer in a punk band to be black, there are more
than people might think. There have always been African American
singers & members in US Hardcore and Punk, from the Bad Brains to the Templars, to Special Forces, YDI, Scream and more, including other current US Punk/Hardcore bands like Red Tape. In the end, for people who see us live and listen to our records
it only matters for the first few seconds. Then they have to decide what they think of us on the merits of the band. Kash is such an amazing, energetic, entertaining front man that his race is overshadowed by his great stage presence and charisma.

 

How would you describe your music in three words?
-Jesse A.: Energetic. Unique. Hardcore.
Ben Edge: hardcore cock rock …
Nick: angry, meaningful, and hardcore.
Kash: Energetic Hardcore Punk… Did we all say Hardcore? Good.

 

How is it to live in your homecountry?
-Jesse A: I love the US. It is a huge country with so many different areas and
different cultures. People who haven't been here probably think of the
US as one giant homogenized strip mall, and there are those aspects to it, but
once you get past all that, there is so much to see and so many different
types of people and places here that it is hard to cover it all in one
blanket statement. We don't agree with everything that Americans often
think, say, and do, and there is a lot about our culture that we hate.
That's one of the reasons we're in a punk band instead of some other crap. A
lot of what has happened in the last five years has seriously disheartened
me, and made me feel at times that I'd be better off leaving the country to
live abroad, but in the end you have to stick it out. This is where we're
from, and we have to try to make the best of it. I personally was so disgusted with the kind of blind patriotism that people in our country exhibited after 9/11 that I thought I would have to leave for good.
Because of our geographic isolation, we often act as if we are not part of the world
community, and that we are not responsible for what we do in other parts of
the world. One serious flaw of the American People is that we often seem to
follow our leaders blindly, accepting the propaganda that is fed to us by
our government and media. While there are always those of us who question
what we're told, and what is being done in our names, unfortunately many
Americans have far too much trust in their government, and stay silent while
it does horrible things to the rest of the world. We are taught from
childhood that we are the most free nation in the world, but it seems that
we are increasingly living in a police state that only pays lip service to the values we supposedly stand for.
Nick: Its pretty good, the only shitty thing is all the pay to play venues, cops, and the jocks at my high school.
Ben Edge: It kicks ass. America rules!


What about the government?
-Jesse A:
The US government has become a really terrible, hypocritical monster,
particularly under the Bush administration. We have destroyed any
international goodwill we might have had after 9/11 with the current
illegal, immoral war. Our government fools the people into thinking
that we are somehow fighting for freedom overseas, while it is slowly eroding
our freedoms here at home. As a people we are sadly far too trusting when it
comes to our public officials. The majority of the American People are not evil, and don't realize what they are doing, and how the rest of the world sees our actions. Many people, even those who support the horrible things the US government has done over the last few years, genuinely think that they are doing the right thing, trying to make the world a safer, more free place in which to exist. Unfortunately, their trust is sadly misplaced.
Ben Edge: It kicks ass. America rules!

 

Do you think that music and politics goes hand in hand?
-Jesse A: I think that politics in music can be an extremely powerful force. Music has the ability to make people think in ways they haven't before, and can open them up to points of view that they otherwise might never have considered.
Bad Reaction is not a political band, in the strict sense of the word.
Kash writes most of our lyrics and tends to focus mainly on personal issues. I think that political issues can be raised by exploring social and personal problems faced by members of our society, and I think that's what some of Bad Reactions lyrics are doing. We write about racism, drug abuse, and a sense of alienation that can easily be seen in a political context without writing overtly political lyrics.
 

Best political band?
-Nick: Dead Kennedys. Period.
Ben Edge: Dayglo Abortions.
Kash: There’s a good local band out of L.A. call Onewordsolution. They are very political, smart and not to mention a pretty fucking solid band.
Jesse A.: Hard to say. I personally grew up listening to the Subhumans, and still think that they were a great political band. I think many political bands out there aren't really saying that much. Many bands just scream "War, War, War," and don't seem to go any deeper than that. One of my favorite political bands from the states is a band from the American Mid-West called Brother Inferior. They have/had intelligent and specific political lyrics that go beyond the punk rock stereotype that many bands seem to stick to.
 

Is there any good bands in your home country now?
-Nick: Yeah amazingly the scene is starting to come back with bands like: CITIZENS ON PATROL (COP), DIRECT CONTROL, CONCRETE FACELIFT, FOMALDEHYDE JUNKIES, BAD ANTICS, AND A TON OF OTHERS...
Ben Edge: Bad Reaction, Broken Needle, The First Step (who are 1/5 Canadian), Annihilation Time...
Jesse A.: The US is finally producing some great Hardcore bands after years of a relatively weak scene. In the last year, Los Angeles has developed a groundswell of support for eighties style hardcore, with bands like Rabies, Tippers Gore, and Harpoon Guns. The scene that Bad Reaction hoped for when we started the band has finally started to develop in the Los Angeles area.
There are a lot of great bands coming out of Northern California, like
Strung Up, DCOI!, and a more political band, Born/Dead. There are many more out there, it seems like I'm hearing new hardcore bands all the time, and many of them are actually really good.
Kash: Well I guess that covers it…
 

What do you know about Sweden?
-Nick: I know it’s in Europe.
Jesse A.: I know that Sweden had a huge political punk scene in the eighties, with a
lot of bands influenced by Discharge. A lot of my friends are intensely into
Swedish hardcore, both from the Eighties and today. I personally am not very
into the style, so I don't know that many of the bands very well, but I am
vaguely familiar with probably twenty or so Swedish hardcore bands. I also
know that Sweden has a big garage scene, at least it did a few years
ago. I think that Sweden is a fascinating country, and has a great connection to
rock and punk, much more so than most countries. When the Mainstream in
the US was proclaiming that Rock was dead, Sweden held the torch for Rock
and Roll in the Mainstream, and from what I know, Sweden has always had a strong and vibrant underground punk movement. And you guys have ABBA.
Ben Edge: I never had time to learn about Sweden, because I'm usually too busy hanging out on the beach in the winter. Ahhh! I love warm weather, don't you?
Kash: That’s where white women come from isn’t it?

 

Have you heard any good Swedish bands?

Jesse A.: as I said, Idon’t know that many, but there's a lot of bands like Kriegshot, Skitsystem, Totalitar, and Wolfbrigade, that are pretty strong bands. Some of my friends could probably name 100 bands, but I'm no expert. One band that I got turned onto recently that are really great are the Skitkids. They are definitely on my list of records to buy!

Ben Edge: Shield, the first Intensity album ("Bought And Sold"), anything without spikes and stupid hair, or techno music… (cough, Refused, cough)

Kash: I fucking love Intensity. Ben turned me onto them. Good Shit! Plus I like Refused a lot too.

 

What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or is it a lifestyle?
-Kash: Everything. Lifestyle.
Jesse A: Punk sucks…. I’m into cock rock!
Nick: I don’t like the term "punk" we are hardcore, I hate that all these emo kids are being called hardcore now, the only thing hardcore about them is that they are hardcore pussies. the term hardcore was coined by DOA, and accepted by bands like minor threat, SSD, black flag, circle jerks, and all the good "hardcore punk" bands from the 80's, hardcore (as I like to call it) is definitely a life style. it separates you from the main stream and allows you to be yourself, rather than follow trends and be a mindless zombie.
Ben Edge: "A punk is an honest person" (Johnny Rotten, 1977)
 

Please rank your five favorite records, five favorite concerts and five most important things in life?
-Records: (no particular order)
Jesse A.:
-Social Unrest, Rat in a Maze
-Turbonegro, Apocalypse Dudes
-Misfits, Walk Among Us
-Zero Boys, Vicious Circle
-Stiff Little Fingers, Inflammable Material
Nick:
1.DYS - wolf pack
2.Minor Threat - out of step
3.Black flag - nervous breakdown
4.Circle Jerks - group sex
5.Ill Repute - what happens next?
Ben Edge:
1) Minor Threat - Minor Threat,
2) Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today,
3) Lifetime - Hello Bastards,
4) Germs (GI),
5) Adolescents - Adolescents
Kash:
1. Bad Brains: ROIR Tape
2. Minor Threat: Discography
3. Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today
4. Black Flag: First Four Years
5. Zero Boys: Vicious Circle
Concerts (no particular order)
Jesse A:
-Ramones
-Turbonegro
-Class of '77 show (with Circle Jerks, Adolescents…etc)
-The Dwarves early shows
Ben Edge:
1) Unbroken/Outspoken Reunion '98,
2) Class of '77 show (Adolescents, Fear, Circle Jerks, and a million other So Cal bands in 2001), 3) Gorilla Biscuits @ CBGBs, 2005,
4) Lifetime @ Chain Reaction, 2006,
5) TSOL @ Troubadour, 2000
Kash
1. Class of 77’ @ The EL Rey (CA)
2. Gorilla Biscuits Reunion @ CBGB’s (NY)
3. Fugazi @ABC NO RIO (NY)
4. Benefit for The West Memphis 3 @ Ameoba (CA)
5. Murphy’s Law & Fishbone @ Coney Island High (NY)
Nick:
1. Inland invasion 2
2. JFA, Tippers Gore, and Rabies at the Knitting Factory
3. Circle Jerks at the Glass House
4. Suicidal Tendencies, FEAR, and Flipper at the Olympic Auditorium
5. Ill Repute at the Showcase
Five most important things in life:
Nick:
1. Music
2. The hardcore scene
3. Skateboarding
4. Being yourself
5. Having fun
Kash:
1. Hardcore
2. Honesty
3. My Friends & Family
4. Women
5. I ran out of stuff…
Ben Edge:
1) Pussy
2) Vagina,
3) Vulva (no, not the car)
4) Birth canal,
5) Red Snapper
Jesse A.: “Conan. What is best in life? To defeat the enemy, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.”
 

First, last and most expensive record ever bought?
-Nick: First was Minor Threat, last is DYS, and most expensive was DRI.
Ben Edge: .First, last and most expensive record ever bought?
Beelzabubba by the Dead Milkmen. The last one was the Big Apple Rappin' comp on Soul Jazz Records (it's a CD, so sue me!), most expensive was Not So Quiet On The Western
Front comp for $15. I don't pay a lot for records.
Kash: First was Minor Threat, last was the Gorilla Biscuits Reunion 7’”, and the most expensive was Skrewdriver’s “Hail the New Dawn”. (I know, I know.)
Jesse A: My first punk tapes I had from a friend were the Dead Kennedys, the Sex Pistols, and The Circle Jerks, but the first record I remember buying was the Damned, Machine Gun Etiquette.
I'm not sure what the last record I bought was, the last few I got for free like the Rabies 7", the second Strung Up 7". I've been really broke, so I haven't been buying records very much. The last one I bought might actually have been No Hope For The Kids.
I have an OK record collection, but I never spent that much for one record. I have the Bad Posture twelve inch that's probably worth $180, but I only paid $15 for it. The most I ever spent for one record was probably only $30 or $40. I'm all about finding the deals out there, which is harder and harder since ebay.

 

Most embarrasing record in your collection?
-Jesse A.:I have a Rancid 7" from when they first started.
Ben Edge: Divinyls, the album with "I Touch Myself" on it.
Nick: Surf Punks "My Beach"
Kash: The Offspring’s “Smash”…

 

You´re on Destrroy All Records? How is that?
-Jesse A.: Destroy All Records has been great. We were dealing with a lot of shady
companies that weren't going to pay that much attention to us if they did put the record out, so we decided to go with Destroy All, run by our friend Rafe. He is just starting up the label after a long break, so he doesn't have that much distribution etc... But we can trust him and we did it all on a handshake, the way it was supposed to be.

 

Have you done anything more than Symptoms of youth? If you have how
can i get it?
-Jesse A.: We put out a Demo CD called "Six Songs" a couple years ago. It is sold
out, and we aren't re-pressing it. Symptoms is a much better representation of us, it's the first thing we've put out that we stand behind. We are starting to plan another release, possibly a split 7" with Harpoon Guns on Radiation Records.
Kash: Plus we’re working on putting out another split with Tipper’s Gore!

 

Is it many interviews? Is it boring?
-Bad Reaction: Huh?
Nick: No, not that many and its never boring.


Which is the question you never get, please ask it and answer it?
-Jesse A.: Why are you so good looking? I don't know, just lucky, I guess.
Ben Edge: I'm not gonna do your job for you!
Nick: How many instruments do you play? I play 3, bass, guitar, and drums.
Kash: So is it weird being a white singer in a black dominated music scene? Uhh...I’m black.

 

Is it any chance to see you in Sweden soon?
-Jesse A.: We would LOVE to play Sweden, but we have no plans. Somebody contact us, please, we want to come! www.badreaction.com!
Kash: As soon as the good people at Skrutt get off their asses and fly us out! Seriously though we’d love to play Sweden!
Ben Edge: Fly us out there. We'll do it!

 

Where is the best place to play?
-Jesse A.: If we have our choice, we prefer to play in any small town with some kind of scene. The bigger cities are spoiled and don't get as enthusiastic. When we play small towns that have an ALL AGES club, the shows go crazy, because they really appreciate the show and the bands.
Nick: Burnt Ramen in Richmond, or the Alley in Fullerton, both fun and the crowd really gets into it!
Ben Edge: Grants Pass, Oregon. Shitty little town in the middle of nowhere, but the kids go off!
Kash: Your house!

 

How is a good gig with you?
-Jesse A.: Our favorite gigs are as I said, the small town all ages shows, with a smaller hall that doesn't have much of a stage. We like to get right down in the audience and Kash loves to interact with the kids. He's pretty crazy and funny onstage, and it's much better when he can get right up to the kids to mess with them. Any gig where the kids are enthusiastic is going to get us going a thousand miles an hour. You feed off each other's energy and it's amazing. We'd rather play in a small hall to fifty kids who are going nuts than to play on a huge stage in front of eight hundred people who are too cool to show that they like the band.

 

The name where does it comes from?(yeah it´s a boring question but
it´s interesting)?
-Jesse A.: We had another name, but found a crappy band in New Jersey was using it, so there was a big conflict as to what we should change the name to. We were talking about taking a name from the song "psychotic reaction" and we ended up shortening it to Bad Reaction. We didn't realize a bunch of idiots would get us confused with Bad Religion, but it happens. None of us were particularly enthusiastic about the name, but it was the only one we could all agree to use, and we had shows booked.


The best band in Americans punk history?
-Jesse A.: The Ramones.
Ben Edge: Minor Threat.
Nick: Black Flag.
Kash: The Bad Brains.

 

The most important punk song?
-Nick: Every single one.
Kash: Personally “New Direction” by Gorilla Biscuits
Jesse A.: I don’t have an answer.
Ben Edge: "Bloody Marys Bloody Cunt" by GG Allin and the Holy Men.

 

Futureplans for the band?
-Kash: Put out more records, tour and play as long as we can.
Ben Edge: Play Sweden. Copulate with 6' 2" tall blonde women. Oh wait, you only know the metric system. Never mind.
Jesse A.: We're planning a winter tour out to Texas and back and planning a split 7" with Harpoon Guns and with Tipper’s Gore. After that we'll probably go back to the Northwest US in the spring, and then we'll see. We'd love to tour Europe, and love to play Japan, but we'll have to see what opportunities arise. With our new drummer we are starting to write new material, and are enthusiastic to see what direction the music takes now that we all are on the same page as far as taste in music goes.

 

For yourself?
-Jesse A.: Get out of debt.
Kash: Keep the US Hardcore punk scene alive!
Nick: Get better at drums and create a bigger scene.
Ben Edge: Fuck.

 

Wisdomword?
-Nick: Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, its all just mainstream bullshit meant to bring you down, be above it and keep your head on straight.
Ben Edge: Huh?
Kash: What?


Something to add?
-The eighties had the best bands, because kids had a lot of energy and
played loud, fast music without a lot of pretense, whether they knew how to play or not. That style is coming back big time, and I encourage any kids out there to see the new movie American Hardcore or to read the book it's based on, and try to find the bands that are listed in it. Some of the greatest music in punk rock came from young kids who didn't know any better, and there's nothing stopping kids from doing the same or even better right now.
Ben Edge: Get more black people in your country!