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Tortured is a really good American punkgroup
which was so kind and sent me their record and a
t-shirt and I really love this group. April
-2108
Please tell me a little bit history of the
group?
-Johnny Lawrie first met Sam Gearing at an open
mic at Berkeley, California in January 2012. He
was playing drums with anybody that wanted to
play with him because the bar had a House kit.
Naturally, Johnny wanted to perform a couple of
songs with him. So, he got up there with his
acoustic guitar, and we played three songs
together. After the open mic we both agreed that
we should practice at his place, and get a band
together. Unfortunately, it was very hard for us
to find a bassist. So on May 9, 2012, we played
our first gig together in Oakland, CA at Stork
Club as the Johnny Lawrie Band. The show went
well, and we continued to play shows together
until March 9, 2013. That was our last show
together for a long time because Sam was in
three bands, and going to school. So, Johnny
dropped off a bunch of his clothes, books, and
records at his neighbor/friend's house in San
Francisco in June, and began to hitchhike the
west coast with just a backpack, and a guitar.
He did the entire Pacific Coast. Long story
short. that was a hard life, and he moved back
to San Francisco in March 2014, reformed the
band with different members in July 2014, and
was fortunate enough to have friends that let
him crash on their couch while he figured his
life out. Sam rejoined the band in December
2016.
Please tell me a little about every member in
the group right now, age, family, work,
interests and something bad about everyone?
Earlier bands? Other bands on the side?
-Johnny Lawrie: Guitar/Vocals/Songwriter27- His
family lives in Massachusetts and Vermont, and
I'm single. He has worked at The Battery in San
Francisco in the Events field since September
2014. He loves going to the beach, going on
hikes, reading comic books, hanging with his
friends, and of course singing and playing
guitar. Something bad about him is that he's a
big ball of stress, and he can be volatile, and
brutally honest at times. Johnny sometimes can
be very stubborn. He was also in Elegant Trash
while in the Johnny Lawrie Band in 2012. Sam
Gearing 27-Drums/Audio Engineer He is a
bartender in Berkeley. His family lives in
Virginia. He loves skateboarding, going to city
council meetings, and of course playing the
drums. Sam also played in Elegant Trash in
2012-2014. He's sometimes messy, and throws
empty water bottles at Johnny at practice.
Jeremiah Johnson 29-Guitar/Vocals: His family
lives in San Francisco where he also resides. He
was in the Marines. He is currently at student
at CCSF. He's interested in becoming a Fireman.
He breaks a lot of strings, and plays a Fender
Stratocasters. Johnny hates strats! Haha. Derek
Zender 25:Bass/Vocals His family resides in
Orange County in the town of Yorba Linda. He
lives in San Francisco. He works at a non-profit
facility. His interests include going on hikes,
going to comedy shows and concerts, and hanging
with his girlfriend. Derek needs to move around
on stage! But, hey he does play bass, so what
should we expect! haha! To be honest, he sounds
the best live out of the three of us. He's a
solid musician.
I can hear much different influences but mostly
early punk? Favorites from the past?
-Some of our influences are; Black Flag, Devo,
The Clash, Rancid, Oppresed Logic, Operation
Ivy, Green Day, Blink 182, Anti Flag, GET DEAD,
NOFX, Atomic Machines, Social Distortion, The
Adolescents, The Descendents, Joy Division,
Nirvana, Best Coast, Ty Segall, Wavves, Dead To
Me, The Dead Kennedy's, The Ramones, Teenage
Bottlerocket, Screeching Weasel, The Avengers,
Bikini Kill, The Distillers, Off With Their
Heads, Swingin' Utters, Gaslight Anthem, The
Loved Ones, The Lawrence Arms, Alkaline Trio,
Dick Dale, Elvis Presley, Ritchie Valens, The
Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Neil Young. The list goes
on and on.
Tortured are you satisfied with the name? How
did it came up? You weren’t afraid that some
other band would be named like this? Which is
the best bandname you know?
-We feel that "The Tortured" is a great name for
a band. We were never really worried that
another band had the same name. That wouldn't
very punk rock of us. The name first came from
how Johnny was feeling, but then it grew as more
of a societal feeling of everybody has a story
to tell, and has a struggle to go through.
Everybody is tortured on one level or another.
Best band name in our opinion is Social
Distortion because it can have many different
meanings.
What´s the best thing with playing live?
-The best thing about playing live is the
natural high when you're up there. It's like a
bolt of lightning just surges though you. You
feel like your heart is going to stop, but it
just keeps on beating. Being able to release all
of your frustrations about life in a creative
format that is fun for everybody. The response
we get from the crowd. We love seeing an
energetic crowd. It's the best response you can
give us. We love to put on a good show, and we
leave our hearts on the stage every time.
And where is best to play?
And the worst place?
-It's hard to say. We've been fortunate to play
at so many great venues. In Oakland our favorite
place to play is Stork Club. The sound engineers
are great there. They have very professional
staff, and they're fun to work with. They also
record your live set for free, and give you a cd
at the end of the night. One of the worst places
to play is Ash Street Saloon in Portland,
Oregon. Every time we've played there we've had
a small crowd come out. The sound guy is good,
but the bar is on it's last days.
How is to play this sort of music in USA right
now? Which types of bands do you have concerts
together with?
-Slowly, but surely punk is making a comeback.
It's just taking time. Punk is very popular in
California, Washington, New York, Texas,
Illinois, Arizona, Idaho, and many other states.
It's just a very underground scene. One of the
labels that has gained a lot of success is
FatWreckChords, which is based in San Francisco.
A lot of people who are around our age come out
to the shows, and can relate to what we have to
sing and scream about. We play a lot of shows
with Pop/Punk bands. We also play with Hardcore
bands and Street/Punk bands. We've played with
acoustic acts too. On occasion with played with
Funk bands and Rap artists.
How would you describe your music in three
words?
-Powerful, Electrifying, Passionate
What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or
is it a lifestyle?
-Punk is not just a word, it's a lifestyle.
Going against society's norms. Feeling like an
outcast. Hopping trains, pissing on Scientology
buildings, supporting immigrant rights, going to
work with green spikey hair, living an
alternative lifestyle, not blending in while the
rest of the world around you conforms. You can't
look like the rest of society if you are going
to resist society's institutions and their way
of life.
How do you see on downloading, mp3 and that
stuff?
-Downloading is fine if you're downloading
popular bands music because they already have
the funds to support themselves. We would hope
that our fans would support us by purchasing our
merchandise, but honestly we give a lot of our
merch and musical content away. We feel that
music should be for everybody.
How is it to live in USA right now? Politically?
Fascists? Trump?
-Fascists and racists have always been prevalent
in the United State, but yes these last couple
of years have brought them out of their holes,
and into the public eye. They feel that they can
be a lot more vocal now due to the fact that
Donald Trump, our racist fascist of a president,
is making them feel empowered to do so. Johnny
has been to a couple of protests, and Sam has
been to a lot more. The racists are coming to
cities like Berkeley and San Francisco, and are
throwing pro-Trump rallies. We and people like
us counter protest. Also, before a lot of songs
Johnny well get on the mic, and say something
like, "Kill Mike Pence, and beat up I.C.E.
Agents End Fascism!"
Is there any good bands from USA now? Is the
punkscene/hardcorescene big?
How is it in your hometown?
-The scene is good right now. It's getting
bigger. In the SF Bay Area Pop/Punk and Cow/Punk
bands like Nothington, The Lucky Eejits, GET
Dead, Dead to Me, etc. are really popular. In
SoCal there's a lot of popular Hardcore bands
like Stand, DI, Headnoise, Terminally ILL, but
there are some Pop/Punk bands down there too.
California is a really great place to be for
almost any genre of music in our opinion.
What do you know about Sweden?
-We know that you guys have an awesome Death
Metal Scene. We also know that Sweden tends to
be a neutral country, and has amazing social
programs. Which we love! We wish that our
country cared as much about Healthcare and
Education as you do!
Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?
Is Turbonegro from Sweden? Where are they from?(
They´re from Norway)
We've
heard of them.
Your lyrics, who does them and what influences
you? Is it easier to do lyrics now or was its
easier to do it when you was younger? Is there
any subject that you never will write anything
about??
-Johnny writes the lyrics. Edgar Allen Poe, Jim
Morrison, The Lawrence Arms, Green Day, Bob
Dylan, Walt Whitman, Dead To Me, Fat Mike, Tim
Armstrong, Lars Frederiksen, Jorge Herrera,
Howard Zinn, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and
many others are influences. It's easier to write
lyrics now. No, all subject matter is worth
writing about.
Is there any subject that you never will write
anything about?
-No, I'm open to writing about a wide array of
topics.
-It doesn't, but it should go hand and hand.
There are plenty of Pop bands that just sing
about money, clubs, girls, sex, drugs, etc. Most
political song is In This Country.
Best political band/artist?
-It's hard to pick one. The Casualties, The Dead
Kennedy's, Anti Flag
Do you think that music(lyrics and so on) can
change anyones life, I mean people who listens
to music?
-We'd like to think so. Yeah, why not? It's
changed our lives. The lyrics are relative
material for people who are going through
something in their life. It is an emotional
response when listening to music.
-Thank you. No, your album cover can have any
type of artwork that you wish. We like the
ambiguity of our artwork for our album. Favorite
record cover is Rancid's. "Let's Go!" Emily
Fromm does our covers. Sam is going to do our
next one, though. Amoeba is a great record
store!
Is it important to get out physical records of
your stuff? Why or why not? Vinyl, CD, cassette,
what do you prefer if you could choose whatever
?
-It's totally important dude! In this world of
technology that we're absorbed by people love
getting something real, something tangible. We
love giving cds out to people who will listen,
sometimes for free. People always react
positively. They usually say, "i'll play it in
my car on the way home!"
Please tell me a funny thing which have happened
during your career and under some gig?
-Well, i don't know how funny it is, but back in
May 2015, our bassist ran off. Keep in mind that
i had completely different band mates at the
time. Keenan, how was playing bass, lost his
meds in San Diego. He's bi-polar. So, things
took a turn for the worse. Him, and my drummer
at the time, Brooks, got into a bunch of
arguments. Brooks is a homophobic, and he would
open the door for Keenan, and say ladies first.
Keenan was obviously angry that he would say
things like that because he's bi-sexual. I was
angry with Brooks too because I have friends and
loves who are gay, lesbian, and non-binary. Once
we got to Yorba Linda, which is Orange County,
Keenan told me he wanted to quit the band. He
said he had bought plane tickets, and was flying
back to Oakland. I told him that "we only have a
few shows left, and that this is our biggest
show of the tour. Can you please just finish the
tour?" He said that he couldn't keep pretending
anymore to have fun up on that stage when in
fact he wasn't. I was livid! I climbed out of
the RV, I found a bunch of furniture that was
next door to the pizza place we were playing at,
and I proceeded to vandalize the shit out of it.
I climbed back in, and told him that I'd put
tons of money into merchandise, gas, etc. And,
that he had to play. He did end up playing. It
ended up being the best show we played of the
"Leeches on the Empire" tour because we were all
so frustrated. I sold a bunch of merch too!
After the show, the local band, "Terminally ILL"
who put the show on invited us to their cabins.
The 3 of us all went our separate ways. Keenan
went to the RV, Brooks to a hotel, and Johnny
went to the cabins with the bands, their fans,
and their groupies. I proceeded to carry 2 30
packs to of beer with me to the campground that
was right by where we performed. We drank until
dawn! Ryan Rissetter and Chris Rock from
Terminally ILL were crazy enough to climb these
rock walls that had at the campgrounds that were
over 30 feet high! We were so drunk. I decided
that it was better for me to hang out in the
cabins with the 30 other people that were there.
The last 2 shows of the tour were nothing in
comparison. That was quite the night, and a very
fun show!
How does your audience look like? Which people
do you miss on your concerts? Which is the
biggest band you ever have played together with?
-We have all kinds of people come to our shows;
white, African American, Latino, Asian. We have
punks with studs, skater kids with flipped up
hats, normal looking people that just look
casual, so on and so forth. I don't know man.
What I'm trying to get across is that all kinds
of people come to our shows, and that's the way
I like it because that is true unity in our
community. DI is the biggest band we've played
with. Civil War Rust and Hard Stride are other 2
bands that come to mind. I have certain friends
and coworkers that have never been to our shows
that I wish would come out to see what I do
best.
Please rank your five favoriterecords, five
favoriteconcerts and five most important things
in life?
-Records-1. And, Out Comes the Wolves by Rancid
2. Bad News by GET DEAD 3. Kerplunk by Green Day
4. Nervous Break Down by Black Flag 5. The End
of the Longest Line by NOFX Concerts- 1. GET
DEAD at Hemlock Tavern 2016 2. Rancid at the
Warfield 2016 3.Swingin' Utters at Thee Parkside
2015 4. Off With Their Heads at Thee Parkside 5.
Semisonic. I
forget the venue, but it was in Boston. When I
was 9 years old my mother took me. It was a
school night, but I loved that song, "Closing
Time," and she thought that it would nice for
her to take me to my first concert. From that
moment on, I knew that I was born to be a
musician. Life- 1. Family and Friends 2. Nature
3. Passion 4. Manifesting your Dreams 5. Music
First, last and most expensive record ever
bought?
-First record was Enema of the State by Blink
182. Last record I bought was The Only Place by
Best Coast Most expensive record was Eddie
Cochran Live at Town Hall Party 1959 on Vinyl
Is it boring with interviews? Is it much
interviews??
-No, not at all! Interviews are both important
and fun! It's great exposure for the band, and I
love talking to new people!
If you could choose five bands from the past and
the history and nowadays and both dead and
living bands to have a concert together with
your band. Which five have you been chosen?
-1. Rancid 2. Best Coast 3. GET DEAD 4. Social
Distortion 5. Nirvana with Kurt Cobain
Is music a good way to get out frustration and
become a nicer person outside the music??
-Yes it totally is. It's important to have some
kind of outlet in your life in order to vent out
all the frustrations and difficulties of the
world.
Which is the most odd question you ever have got
in an interview?
-A girl once said that I have great hair, and
asked if I've ever been a model.
Which is the question you want to have but you
never get. Please ask it and answer it?
-Which woman lead singer do you wish to marry
one day? Bethany Cosetino from Best Coast,
obviously!
Futureplans for the band?
-Get signed to a well renowned label, and do a
world tour!
For yourself?
-Just to keep on trying to find new
opportunities and explore.
Wisdomword?
-Be kind to everyone you meet. In the shadows of
darkness, cling onto the light. Search for
clarity and hope in a world that may sometimes
feel foggy, and filled with despair.
Something to add?
-Thanks for reading this interview. Now, please
check out our music!
We'd really appreciate it
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