But as someone with eyes wide open, it's nice to get to know the other kinds of music that I don't do a whole lot in my personal listening.
Stan from Terminal Nation was kind enough to take some time for us and talk about the genre, the scene, and life in general.
(Recently declassified from the Guantanamo Bay Glacially Musical Offices and Michael Flynn had nothing to do with this transmission.)
Glacially Musical: Thank you for taking some time for us. How are you guys doing today?
Stan from Terminal Nation: All is good today. We’re battling a pretty crazy storm here in Little Rock, but other than that things are great.
GM: Grindcore is still something that's a little bit hard for me to really understand. What drew you to the genre?
TN: The thing that I love about grind is the absolute chaos of it all. It’s like a genre where there are no rules. You can have a song that’s only 7 seconds long.
You can throw 5 riffs and tempo changes in one song, you can do crazy experimental stuff like add a saxophone or some harsh noise and it works. It’s limitless. That being said, while we have often been labeled as a grindcore band, I would just categorize us as being a hardcore band. There are still a lot of punk elements to what we do.
We definitely take a lot of influence from the grind and powerviolence world, though, for sure.
GM: Your EP, Absolute Control, was a shorty. Was that intentional?
TN: Yeah, absolutely. We just wanted to keep things pretty short and sweet. I grew up on punk and have always loved the 7” format, and wanted to keep it at that.
I grew up on short and fast stuff. As far as other bands that are similar to our style, 14 minutes of music is a lot. That’s a full length for many hardcore/powerviolence/grind bands. This is the second EP in a row we have done that’s about 14 minutes.
I feel like a 5 minute EP or 7” is a waste of space and resources, at least when it comes to our style of music. Some bands can take 14 minutes of music and chop that up to do like 5 splits or something, but we just threw it together on one release.
So in the weird world of hardcore, it’s almost like we have two full lengths out, just each one is on a 7” format. Our original plan was to write an LP however, a combination of being busy and lazy hindered that a little bit.
The next release we do I am sure will be a true full length, with a lot more music.
GM: Where do you find the inspiration for this music?
TN: I don’t like to think of myself as a negative person, but I am realistic. Sure the music is pissed, but there is a lot to be pissed off about.
I’ve always related to the idea of questioning everything, and calling out everyone and everything who’s deserving of it. I look at music as an outlet for my aggression, and the only way to release that aggression is to confront, head-on, anything and everything that is wrong.
Usually it’s political or social issues that get me most heated, and it’s easy to see why that is right now.
GM: No one is angry all the time, so what do you have to do to get into the mood to write something so angry if you're having a great day?
TN: Sure being angry all the time only leads to frustration. However, it’s not hard to find something to get upset about if you just glance around.
We are from Arkansas, and outside of the music scene, there’s a lot of garbage here in the south that people buy into.
Racism and homophobia, along with many other backward-ass beliefs are pretty commonplace in this part of the country, and that’s enough fuel right there. I think we are certainly a product of our environment.
GM: Now, I don't like the term, but what's your musical guilty pleasure?
TN: I love a lot of music that’s nothing like the style that we play. I enjoy playing hardcore because it’s fun, but listening to just that can get pretty monotonous.
Like you said, I am not a fan of the term “guilty pleasure”, but if I were to name something that most people wouldn’t expect me to be a fan of, it would probably be something like Lady Gaga.
The new single she released is great. I have loved all of her albums and I believe in the current era she is one of the few really iconic pop stars who has that larger than life feel, like a Madonna or a Prince did many years ago.
Always been a fan of those artists who kind of transcend music and are almost like pop culture characters. As far as “guilty pleasures” in relation to hardcore or metal, I love that new Body Count record.
A lot of people may write it off as super corny, but the riffs are insanely hard and the songs are actually really catchy. You can deny that the record is an anthem for kicking ass.
GM: Aside form music, what hobbies are you guys into?
TN: A couple of us in the band are powerlifters, and we have a couple of dudes who work as barbers. I think food is pretty much the biggest hobby and joy out of everyone in this group, though.
GM: What's your favorite ethnic food?
TN: I’m sure everyone in the band would probably have a different answer but I am a sucker for Chinese food, straight up.
GM: What are the five most important albums of all time?
TN: Wow, that’s a hard one. If you were to ask me this every day for the next month, the answers would probably different every single time, but here’s off the top of my head:
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
Integrity – Humanity is the Devil
Blink 182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
The Cure – Disintegration
Infest – Slave
GM: Tell me something that I didn't ask.
TN: Vince McMahon should turn Roman Reigns heel already, or just give up.
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