Crucial Change

Tyler: Vocals and Guitar Ryan:Bass and backing vocals


The new album entitled 33 is finally done, and do out at the end of November by Dim Records. The CD will include 12 new original songs and a cover of Stolz by Bohse Onkelz, plus the whole American Made album that we previously only released of vinyl.



Interview by LA PRIMERA LINEA DEL FRENTE
http://lpldfzine.blogspot.com/

1. What’s the actual line-up and when have been formed the Crucial Change?

Hello and thank you for the interview, greetings from Seattle. The current lineup of Crucial Change is myself, Tyler Busik (vocals, guitar) Ryan Gillespie (bass) Kirk Caustic (guitar) and Scott Michael (drums) The original lineup for our first ep in 2004 was myself (vocals, guitar) Ramon Alvine (bass) and Tamon Fujimi(drums)

2. You have called yourselves as a band with a mission. Tell me about that.

We are a band on a mission in the sense that we have something to say and our music expresses that. We are sick of skinhead bands who have nothing to express except how much they like to drink and dance, we are here to state our side of the story. All our songs deal with real world subjects that working class Americans and working people all over the world face. Patriotism, justice, class, crime and punishment just to name a few.

3. Crucial change is an old school style Oi! Band and you have also compared yourselves with Combat 84. Tell me about your musical influences and tastes.

We draw our influences from many different musicians, and that has developed into our own sound through the years. Combat 84 is definitely a huge influence on me as well as the other classic British acts like 4-Skins, Last Resort, Indecent Exposure etc.

I am also a fan of classic German Oi! and RAC acts like Storkraft and Endstufe, definitely another influence. Hardcore has always been a part of the American skinhead scene and that is how our band started. We grew up listening to Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front etc, the Oi! music came later in the skinhead scene. Our earlier songs mixed a lot of old school hardcore punk with Oi! Today our band has a more pure brick wall Oi! sound, our version of skinhead rock n’ roll I suppose.

4. How’s the skinhead scene on your city?

The skinhead scene in Seattle has always been fairly small and has seen better days.
A few years ago many of the older skins were dropping out and the scene became dominated by the SHARP and Politically Correct skinheads, who knew nothing of the culture, but simply wanted an excuse to fight and start bullshit wars within the skinhead scene. They really do not care about racism and Seattle does not even have any Nazi skins, the Seattle SHARPS are against any pride in one’s country, heritage or simply being an individual.

They want all skins to think like them, which sounds like fascism to me. Today I see quite a few kids at our shows who are there to stay true to what skinhead is all about, not following the crowd like sheep and thinking for yourself. They are not skinheads to prove a point or agenda, but because they have pride in themselves and their country. That is what our band stands for.

5. What other north American Oi!/RAC bands do you like?

As far as current Oi!/RAC bands go from the states there are not too many that come to mind. Classic American Oi! bands like Anti Heroes, Moonstomp, Stormwatch, Arresting Officers, and Kicker Boys come to mind.

6. Top 13 of favourite albums.

Top 13, man this is a tough one. Here is my best guess for now ha ha! in no specific order.

-Evil Skins “Une Force, Une Cause, Un Combat”
-Endstufe “Glatzenparty”
-Angelic Upstarts “Teenage Warning”
-Combat 84 “Orders of the Day”
-Cro-Mags "Age of Quarrel
-The Clash "The Clash”
-Storkraft “Dreckig, Kahl und Hundsgemein”
-Infa-Riot "In for a Riot”
-Bohse Onkelz “Bohse Menschen, Bohse Lieder”
-4-Skins "Fistfull of 4-Skins”
-Stars and Stripes "Shaved for Battle”
-Skullhead “Odin’s Law”
–The Misfits "Static Age”

7. After many different line-ups you released the “American made” under Dim records banner. How important as that for you?

Having “American Made” released on Dim records was very important to us and a big honor. Uhl from Dim is a stand up guy and does right by his bands. Dim has always been one of my favorite labels and it is great to have my band released on a label with so many classics.

8. Do you have any story about the composition and record of the songs of “American made”?

“American Made” was actually recorded way back in 2006 with Brandon on drums, Steffi on bass and myself on guitar and vocals. Many of the songs had been written for a year or so and we finally were able to get to a studio and record them. Our friend John from Washington DC came and did backing vocals on the tracks as well as Ryan Gillespie who is now our bass player.

9. Let’s speak about songs as “American made” and “Out today”.

The song “American Made” is speaking about our band and all proud working people in America. We are American made, because we made America from the ground up. The government did not make this country great, nor did the upper class who shits all over us to this day. We stand with the ones who made it great, and now it’s time to take it back. “Out Today” is speaking to the United States involvement specifically in the Middle East and other areas of the world.

We are fighting a war that has no bearing on our nation and our soldiers are being killed by a land we can not fix. Why should our young men have to die at the hands of a fundamentalist Muslim? Let the scum have their country and get us the hell out. If the U.S. really wants to fix that place you are going to have the bomb the whole country because it is a battle of minds that we will never win. Our leaders put us there for their own interests with no regard for the lives of our armed forces.

10. In the song “Rich kid justice" you make an interesting critical, speak about it.

“Rich Kid Justice” refers to the how justice is handed down differently in America based on what class you are. I read an article before I wrote the song about a rapist who fled the country with no enforcement from the courts all because his dad was rich and powerful. At the same time this piece of shit is raping women we have men locked behind bars who I doubt had a fair trial. You receive the justice you can pay for.

11. Proud, strong and free of Star and Stripes?

“Proud, Strong and Free” is a cover from the legendary 80’s American Oi! band Stars and Stripes (Choke from Hardcore Boston band Slapshot on vocals) The song has a tongue and cheek element to it, but describes our band’s viewpoint well and always gets the crowd moving at our shows.

12. Crucial change uses two symbols that nowadays isn’t looked with good eyes. First the “Dark sun” and the north American flag on the front cover of “American made” that is hated in many parts of the world. Provocation, politics, unconditional pride?

We use the black sun because European ancient history has always interested me and there is nothing wrong with showing a symbol, like the solar wheel, that pre-dates the dawn of time. People will say that you can’t use the symbol due to the fact that the SS used it in the Third Reich, but it existed long before Nazi Germany and will continue to. As for the American flag, we fly it because we are proud of where we come from, our country.

People all over the world should have pride in their country, because it is theirs’ and it is up to them to make their lands great. Some decisions American leaders have made are not the best, but most of our people are against these actions. I fly the flag, because it is who I am.

13. In songs as “PC” and “We’re Back” we can see your hate and scoff for the political corrects. What do you say about antifas, fags, neo-hippies, commies and other disgusting, stinky and dirty people?

Ha ha! that’s a lot of different groups, I could write a lot. Here you go.

-Antifas: These people say they are fighting against racism, but are usually anarchist or commies and simply want to ruin our country as well as others. They attack anyone who they claim to be a “Nazi” simply if they do not think the same way they do. Our band is not NS but these people do not like us simply because we are proud of our land and don’t follow bullshit left wing politicians. They are also weak and never fight fair. Gangs of antifas jump whomever they suspect, no one on one fighting.

-Fags: What people do in the privacy of their own home is their business. I believe in freedom, even if I don’t like what’s being done. I don’t waste my time with someone’s personal choices. As long as people leave me alone they can do whatever the fuck they want. As for that whole “gay skinhead” thing, what a bunch of shit. I am glad we don’t seem to have that problem in the States, now those are some boys who need to stay the fuck away from me haha.

-Neo-hippies: If the old ones were not bad enough, there’s neo- hippies now haha? I do know what you mean and here in Seattle we have plenty of these types, complete waste of life. Drug using, smelly and a truly disgusting people. If you hate your nation get the hell out of it then. Most of them are lazy and live on the street, so they are not paying taxes anyway.

-Commies: I certainly never want our country to be threatened by it, but I don’t believe it will. If someone believes in that ideology I really don’t care, freedom of speech, even if you are a dumbass. All those so called commie kids, antifas and hippies are really just the same thing. Spoiled rich college kids who have never worked a day in their life, but can tell all of us what is right and how to live. Fuck em!

14. What do you say about the “smiling” Barack Obama?

Barack Obama is just another president to me. They are all out of touch rich men who can not relate to American working people. They might say they understand that you lost your job, but they will never have to lose theirs’ and be in fear that they can’t feed their children. I hope Barack Obama will be better than George Bush and possibly get our failing economy back on track, but he is not a savior.

15. You have announced you’re already on studio recording your new album. What news can you tell to us in first hand? What’s the title of the album?

Yes, we have finished recording our 13-song album and it will be released on Dim Records very soon. We are self-titling the album “Crucial Change” because this collection of music best describes our band to date.

16. You have already released to us some songs of your new album like “Skin” and “Tree of life”, but caught my attention the version of “Stolz” of the Böhse Onkelz. Tell me about it.

Böhse Onkelz has always been one of our favorite bands and Onkelz classic was awesome. I wanted to give the song our own heavy Crucial Change sound, but still stay true to the Böhse Onkelz classic. Not enough young American skins know of the Böhse Onkelz and we always like to expose them to great skinhead music besides American and British bands.

17. Have done many or few concerts? Any future presentation you’d like to announce?

We have played many shows in the past, but have not played a concert in over a year. Since our band is a skinhead band you get a bad reputation and venues do not want to book you. There would also be fights at our shows and threats of violence towards the band by the politically correct skinheads crowd in Seattle. We are hoping to start playing shows again very soon and some great venues are on our side, they don’t give a shit and just want to have a good time, and that’s what we’re all about.

18. You north Americans aren’t into football (soccer) very much. Any other sport you’re fans?

You are right, North Americans are not very into Soccer, but Seattle actually just got a professional Soccer team called the Seattle Sounders. Now soccer is becoming much more popular in Seattle. Our most popular sports in our city and throughout all of North American are baseball, football and basketball. Our basketball team the Seattle Sonics were just sold to another state, so now we follow the Seahawks football team and the Mariners baseball team, not to mention the new Sounders.

19. Meal, beer brand, liqueur and three favourite songs.

My favorite meal would have to be Italian Fettuccini Alfredo pasta with garlic bread, beer Brand Fosters, liqueur Jagermeister and three favorite songs, another hard one, “Le Poisseux” Evil Skins, “Eine Rose Fur Dich" Endstufe and “Last Caress” The Misfits.

20. Do you know anything from my country?

Unfortunately I do not know too much of Chile, but it looks like a beautiful country. Hopefully we can visit and play a show one day. I am aware of the former ruler Pinochet and Salvador Allende before him. I know that Chile exports a lot of wine I know of poet Pablo Neruda from my school days. The only way to truly know a land is a go there yourself and I would like to see Chile.

21. Thank you for the interview. Last words are yours.

Thank you for the interview it was an honor. Skinhead greetings to all our fans and friends around the world and keep watch for the new LP out this summer on Dim Records. Much respect to Chilean skinheads!