A: I think that's a problem with a lot of straight-edge bands, they have this attitude of in your face, this is how we are, this is how everyone should be, they shove it down people's throats and wear it on their sleeves. They are militant about it. How have you all been able to escape that mentality and way of being as a band? And also, have you had any clashes with other bands because of the way you are?

M: 10-12 years ago, we had this crew in Amsterdam with straight-edge kids who were telling me, ah, 'you have long hair and most of your friends use drugs'. They were criticizing me, saying I was not straight edge enough. I told them, whatever, I don't care. I'm not straight edge because of some kind of person or movement. It's a personal choice. If I want to start drinking tomorrow, I will do it. I don't care. I'm not proud of not drinking or smoking, this is just how I live. By the way, most of those proud hardline straight edge kids are now beer drinkers haha...
MK: You asked if we have had problems with other people...Yeah, some people have a problem with us because we have pro-drug legalization songs. They don't really get why and how a straight edge band can support drug legalization. But for us, this is a political issue and we think that legalization reduces crime and addiction.

A; This is a question that my husband wanted me to ask you guys, related to myspace. He came from a poor family. He got into punk when he was young--he's 37 now so he got into punk when he was 11-12… Of course, myspace wasn't around all those years ago. Now he's in prison and doesn't have access to a computer but he gets MRR, Profane Existence and some other punk zines from the states, it all seems to be revolving around websites, mp3's, downloading music. It's really driving him crazy. He doesn't like it. He feels like punk has been relegated to the internet scene. Whereas before, it wasn't like that and if you don't have access to a computer, you are basically shut out of the scene in a way. Another point too is the fact of people downloading music and sharing files where bands don't get any profit which is an important aspect of the indy punk scene is the fans supporting the bands through the sales of merch. Does anyone want to comment on any of these points?

M: Internet has positive and negative sides. It maybe caused that fanzines are getting less and less published and read. I used to read a lot of fanzines in the late 80's, 90's. In the days before internet I used to tape trade music with people from around the world. You had personal contact with people. I had to search for months and months, maybe even years, to get ahold of something special. You have this expression; ''the chase is better than the catch''. Maybe searching for all those bands, waiting for months for a cassette to come in, that was also part of the fun. And now within 10 seconds, you can find any obscure band that you want. It takes away some of the excitement. One of the positive things is that its much easier to communicate with people in the tours we set up with all those far away countries like the Philippines or whatever. Now, through the internet, its much easier.
W: In the bigger picture, around the world, people in remote countries like the Philippines they have much more access, they are much more part of the whole thing. Just because of downloading. They can go to myspace and check out bands. That's what some people forget. If you don't have ways of communicating, you are just closed out. The concept, especially concerning myspace is the whole thing is owned by a big corporation right now which is a really scary situation if you think about all the data that is saved on there can be easily accessed by those corporations and used for really scary things. That is I think the goal that has to be worked on by the hardcore community is to get an alternative to myspace. And, about zines, I'm not so long in the hardcore scene. I can't say how it was in the old days. I went to my first show in 99. I didn't really start reading zines until a few years ago. I don't know how it was before the internet. But I worship zines and try to get all different kinds of zines, personal stories and typical hardcore fanzines. The same information I can collect in zines, I don't like to read it on the internet. It's just not the same. I enjoy to read it in the car, I enjoy to read it in other places, (laughs).
MK: Its called quality control. Finally we can download it and hear the music. If you like it, all of us who are buying records and supporting the bands, we are going to buy the vinyl anyway. Like now we know what is really good and what is bad. Back in the day, I'd be stuck with a bunch of mediocre records. I was ordering everything because I was reading the reviews here or there but I never heard the band. But now I can check out their profiles, download their songs and see if I wanna buy it or not. The positive aspect of this is that you really have to be good to put out a record.
AX: I want to add one thing. I'm not a really great record collector. To be honest, I think it's a bit of an over-exaggerated discussion. What kids like the most is going to shows, seeing a good band, and going crazy in the circle pit, dancing or just watching the band. In my opinion, that is 95% of what the scene is about, and sharing ideas and all of that. And there is to some extent, people have moved away from writing crap in fanzines to writing crap online or on message boards. But I don't have a problem at all with people downloading music because I do it myself all the time because its much easier than waiting for that one band to come through town and have their record there. And if I like the band and I see them live and I want to support them, I'll buy their record, I'll buy their t-shirts. I mean, Vitamin X started touring in 98-99, back then the internet was not so wide-spread. We can tour better nowadays because of the internet, not worse I think.
MK: That's another thing, all those kids in SE Asia they can't afford to buy vinyl and CD's. 1300 kids were singing along with us in Jakarta. Before the internet, they didn't know us. Of course we released some tapes and CDs there, but the first place they heard of us was the internet.
AX: Its just as much quality control for bands as it is for fanzines. Fanzines like Profane Existence or MRR have been going for years and they are still going and they are still selling a lot of copies because its good. The internet creates another way of communicating but it doesn't make the fanzines obsolete.
MK: One form I think that is going to sink is the CD and I think vinyl is coming back and its always going to stay. It doesn't matter how many digital formats are going to come out in the next years but vinyl is always going to exist for this kind of scene and for the musical lovers in general.