Ithaca Underground's Pete Ives gets the lowdown from Magrudergrind vocalist, Avi Kulawy in preparation for their headlining performance at BIG DAY IN - this Saturday in Ithaca, NY!


IU: First off, for those who are unfamiliar w Magrudergrind, where are you guys from and how did shit start happening musically?


Avi: We're from Washington DC. We started as a joke, just 3 friends playing fast, annoying music.

IU: How would you describe the music scene in DC?

Avi: There’s a lot of straight edge. The city isn’t to big into grindcore, but Baltimore, which is the next closest city, shows much love for more aggressive music.

IU: What are some major influences when it comes to writing?

Avi: Our influence changes as we all get older and exposed to more of life. The local DIY community, traveling, current events all influence our style and lyrics.

IU: What would you say is Magrudergrind's main focus as of late?

Band name: Hiroshima Vacation

Location: Ithaca, NY

Members: VII Caso (Guitar), Severin Heads(Drums), Tenor Caso (Vocals)

Date formed: sometime in the summer of '09

Tell us about yourselves!
History: I (Vii Caso) believe it was at the first Rosetta show, Severin told me that he wanted to start a sludge metal project, and asked if I would play guitar. I'm not that great on guitar, but I thought why the hell not. So when we started jamming in Severins basement the whole "sludge metal" idea kinda disappeared quickly and I was playing more hardcore riffs. We improv jammed a bit, and started making our own original songs pretty quickly. We kept doing the instrumental jams for a couple months, not really knowing what style we were going to stick to really. We ended up just playing a hybrid of hardcore/grindcore/death metal (ie: heavy shit). So, we knew we needed a singer because instrumental grind is fucking whack. I suggested my brother Tenor because I heard him scream here and there. So the next practice we brought him over and he improvised over the songs we wrote. And everything just sort of fit. We've been going at it since then.

Band name: Dance-A-Tron

Location: Binghamton, NY

Members:  Kevin Kober - bass guitar/vocals; Mike Escott - guitar; Stephen Askew - drums

Formed: 2004

Tell us about yourselves!
We started Dance-A-Tron in 2004 as a two piece project. Stephen and I had been playing together in another band, All Immune/Paroxysm with Bijoy and Bob from Swath. When that band came to a close, Swath and Dance-A-Tron were formed.  With no guitar player, we tried to create a unique sound that incorporated fast, crusty punk with Lightning Bolt style playing.  We recorded a 9

When we last left Mose Giganticus' Matt Garfield in the summer of '09, he was facing another canceled tour, bus repair, and the end of an recording session that seemed to take forever.  2010, however, is a completely different story.  Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine gets the skinny on the year that was and what this promising year has in store for the synth-metal warrior, including the release of his latest, "Gift Horse" our July 20th on Relapse Records!

IU: How has everything been since we last spoke in the summer?

Matt:  Pretty well! 2009 was a difficult year because I had a lot of failed tours, which failed because of bus problems, which meant more money having to flow out, money that I didn’t really have.  So, it was despairing for a little while. Basically, in 2009 I was trying to finish the new record and trying to pull off two tours, both of which ended prematurely with the bus being completely dead. The first tour ended because I had to replace the engine and the last tour ended early because I had to replace the rear end, the rear axle, and everything that goes along with it.  I was up against all that and I was in debt from bankrolling the new record.  Things were looking pretty bleak but by Thanksgiving discussions with Relapse started coming through.  At this point as 2009 is behind me, the bus is almost finished being repaired. I should be able to pick it up this weekend. So, I’ll be getting the bus back, the new release on Relapse is moving forward, my financial situation is better so I feel there is a lot of potential for this year.  I feel a lot better now, a lot less despair (laughs).

IU: Awesome! That’s pretty much a complete 180 from when we spoke last time.

Matt: Absolutely!

IU: What’s the storey behind getting hooked up with Relapse to release Gift Horse?  Last summer you were wrapping up recording and there was talk about releasing it on Slanty Shanty like your previous releases.  What came about that turned all that around?

Parts & Labor bassist, vocalist, and electronics guru B.J. Warshaw takes some time to bring us up to speed on new P&L material, the band's transition back to a trio, and playing Ithaca on April 28th at The Shop! Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine interviews.

IU: Hey BJ, glad we are able to bring you three up here next week!

BJ: I’m glad this worked out! We’ve been hoping to come through Ithaca since our show in Fredonia was booked but we didn’t know about our drummer’s work schedule until just the other day.  We’d been talking to the people that run this fest at BJ’s in Fredonia , they wanted us to play last year and scheduling didn’t work, but we were able to make it work for this year. 

IU: What’s the fest you’re playing all about?

BJ: It’s a bar up there called BJ’s and they do it every year.

IU: Hope you guys have fun up there!  Now, Parts & Labor have been relatively quiet for the last year – what have you been up to?

BJ: We’ve been working on writing our new record actually, and have been for a

Band name: Swath

Location: Binghamton, NY

Members:  Kevin Kober - bass guitar; Bob Aiken - guitar; Dan Micholychak - guitar; Bijoy Datta - drums

Formed: 2004

Tell us about yourselves!
We started Swath in 2004 as Kevin, Bob and me were coming to an end with a previous band, All Immune (later known for a short time as Paroxysm). Dan and Kevin had been jamming for awhile as a side project and then invited Bob and me to join. We first started out with epic 20-30 minute songs and ambient soundscape-type materials. But, pretty quickly over the next few months, we

Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches up with Tombs founder Mike Hill before their show in Boston to discuss plans for 2010 - including recording a new LP, some amazing tours and their appearance at the second Big Day In on May 1st in Ithaca - in addition to some current literature driving his lyrics, what pushes him to keep adding more projects and endeavors, and more.

IU: What are you up to today?

Mike: Today is the first day of four or five dates with Ludicra from San Francisco and Krallice.

IU: You were all part of the Mayhem tour initially, correct?

Mike: Yes, Tombs and Ludicra were originally part of the ill-fated Mayhem tour, tonight we would have been in Boston for that tour.  Ludicra set up their own US tour in lieu of those dates, which brings them out here to the east coast and we’re jumping on a few dates with them.

IU: Is this your first string of dates in a while or have you been on the road a lot in 2010?

Mike: We’ve been working on new material so for the first part of the year we’ve just been writing, recording demos, and preproduction.  The rough plan is to enter the studio in October of this year to record another record.  Preparing for that has taken up most of our time.  The only touring we really did was around SXSW.  We did a quick run down south with Graves of Balor, who are on Relapse with us.  For me the high point for me was when we played SXSW with Voivod! That was pretty intense.  That band is one of the biggest influences on me and it was great to play with them.

IU: Wow, that must have been really fucking cool.  That band is amazing.  How many shows did you end up playing at SXSW?

Mike: We just did the one.  The way the tour was scheduled we only had time for one day and we had to roll out the next morning. Last year we played around four shows in three days.  We were there for such a limited amount of time that I didn’t really get a feel for what it was like this year.  The whole stay was centered around our show, getting ready, playing and back on the road at 8AM.

IU: Are you playing any of the new material on the road?

Band name:  Iwo Jima Fucking Medkit

Location: Ithaca/Newfield

Members: Iwo Jima is Alex Ribeiro on bass, Andrew Summers on drums, Dan Howard on guitar and previously featured Jayme Peck on vocals (who parted ways to spawn and spread graphic disease).

Tell us about yourselves!
Let's see... back in Ithaca around the turn of the century, Andrew and Dan were assaulting ears with blast beats and feedback in Knives! (which featured Andrew Hernandez of Tombs on the kit) when an unstable Brazilian dude named Alex started showing up to some of the gigs...

Tell us about yourselves!
We are Tropical Punk and this is a party. Zach Puls plays guitar and sings. Max Biggio plays guitar and sings. Reece Lazarus plays bass and sings. Billy Lacava plays drums. Duncan Shea used to play drums, but he is in Barcelona.

Band name: Turbines. The capital 'T' is optional. But please, its not "The Turbines," simply "Turbines."

Location: Rochester, NY

Members:
Evan McNamara - Guitar, a tad bit of programming, Beards.
Paul Schleiter - Korgs, Casios, White Noise Machines, Programming.
Jim DeWitt - Bass, Guitar, Midi Controlller, Laptop Master, Programming.
Laptop - he does what we tell him to, or else we send him to bed without dinner. Goddamn misbehavin' laptop!