Interview with Reckless Minds Collective

Hey what’s up?
Let me start off by introducing myself, I’m Brian
And you are?
Hi, Brian. My name is Damon and I’m the vocalist of the band.

Who is in Mourningside A.D.?
We have Jeremy and Jake on guitars, Tuch on bass and Anthony on drums, with myself, having the luxury of not having to pick up an instrument, on vocals. (haha)

Give me a little band history…
How did it start?
This band had been talked about, written for, and put on the backburner several times since the end of 2007, coming into 2008. Jake and I had spent a lot of time analyzing the local hardcore scene around us and had come to the conclusion that we felt very disconnected from the music and the messages being put out by most of the bands playing at the time. In a nut shell, the masses weren’t making the music that we wanted to hear, so we took it upon ourselves to make it. After a lot of headaches, failed jam sessions and general time wasting, we finally got together with Anthony, Jeremy and our first bassist, Spencer. After a short period of time, things didn’t work out with Spencer, due to creative issues, so we picked up our friend Tuch who had been helping with the band in various ways up to that point. That was that.

Any past members?
As I mentioned before, Spencer was our first bassist. Our pal Eli had practiced with us one time directly after we parted ways with Spencer, but unfortunately Eli hurt his hand very badly that next week (who says bad luck isn’t real?) and was quickly replaced by Tuch. Not a long past members history by any stretch of the imagination, but its history, none the less. (haha)

Any cool stories?
We went to the Northwest to support the release of our 7.” Everyone there was fantastic. We were given a place to stay at the React! Records house, which was great, because our van was wet, dank and just disgusting. That’s all that comes to mind, really. The Northwest is where it’s at.


What are some influences that help make the Mourningside A.D. sound?
We jumped into this endeavor listening to all things 90’s hardcore. (Who would have guessed, right?) Our biggest influences from the get go were Chokehold, Unbroken and Mean Season. This is music that moved us in ways that no other incarnation of hardcore really could. We didn’t want to leave a single stone unturned. Everything from the “I can’t quite mosh to this” breakdowns, to the spoken word vocal patterns that had been all but discarded from hardcore, as we know it, were all fair game. Musically, we wanted to make songs that would make people move in ways that only seem appropriate while wearing an XL shirt and Lee Pipes. Lyrically, we wanted to convey the soul and crystal clear acceptance of our own misunderstanding of the world and motivations of others. Content that was made so popular by bands like Unbroken, Mean Season and Snapcase, while at the same time displaying our anger and frustrations with the social structures created by the privileged that are seemingly designed to oppress and destroy the lives of the unprivileged. Views and messages which were so apparent with bands like Chokehold, Culture and Abhinanda. Also, we will not shy away from deeply personal issues, such as depression, which I have coped with for many years, which were so urgently cried out to the world by bands like Disembodied. Essentially, anything goes. Nothing is off limits!

So I recently picked up your 7” that came out on Hard Press records and I loved it…tell me a little about the writing process and meaning behind some of the songs…
I won’t go into great detail about the writing process, but to wrap up the process quickly, we basically go into practice, rock out in the most ridiculous fashion possible (complete with super high strapped guitars) and write the cheesiest 90’s metalcore riffs that are destined to be tossed into the overly cliché, dumpy, dime a dozen, 90’s riff rubbish heap that should never pierce the innocent ears of any genuine music fan...then we record them and put out a record.(haha) The words behind the songs are written, in some cases, in a way that is straight to the point. Very direct and descriptive…and other songs are quite vague and are left up to the listener to really decide what they mean. A common theme that is found on this record is an extreme sense of sorrow and resentment at the hands of social politics regarding religion and the government, as well as elitism within certain niches of the hardcore scene that have taken it upon themselves to make others feel inferior for not being as politically conscious as they could be. We had released a demo early this year, which was listened to and embraced by the guys at Hard Press. They offered to put out a 7,” so we re-recorded a couple of our demo songs and 2 new ones, that make up our debut vinyl release, “Confessions of Disbelief.”

How was working with Hard Press? Will we see any other releases anytime soon?
Hard Press has been good to us. Everything has been on our terms and they’re very accommodating. They have a couple of releases coming out, such as a release from a new Orange County hardcore band that I’m sure will do well, called On Point (shameless plug. haha). We are in the process of writing. A split 7” may be in the works with our friends in Feel Bad Now, but a full length is being discussed for a summer release. Only time will tell. The only thing that we know for sure is that we have a couple of songs in our back pocket that will bring this band into a darker, heavier and more mature realm that I believe will cement a sound that truly embodies what Mourningside A.D. is and hopes to be.

Any plans on touring?
Depending on what we plan to do release wise, we’ll either be doing another Northwest tour, hopefully with some stops in San Fran, or a long summer tour. East Coast? Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Any last words?
Thanks, Brian.
For every active participant of the hardcore “scene” and to anyone who reads this…
We can not take a single thing for granted! Assume that everything you “know” is a lie until you can safely prove otherwise. Reject all preconceived notions of right and wrong. Question every rule, law, theory, dietary option, border, action and piece of advice you experience or come across. We must think about everything we are doing, have done and will do and how it effects the world and people around us. I believe that as long as the religious and conservative right threatens the integrity of our basic freedoms of thought, speech and action that are granted, as human beings and Earthlings in general, their very existence must be questioned and rejected. The powers that be can not be trusted, along with the religious right that controls it. This is not the nation of god. A woman’s body can not be owned and made available to be controlled by the government. The ground on which we stand is no ones to buy and sell. As I said…question everything. Question me. Question this interview. Educate yourself and find your own truth.

This is our confession of disbelief...

We are Mourningside A.D. from Orange County, California and we're here for the purpose of sharing our thoughts, ideas and emotions with anyone willing to listen, think and feel...not to or for us, but with us.

This blog is where we will share our downloads, lyrics, show information, thoughts, plans and hopes dealing with anything and everything Mourningside A.D. related.

First off...we just dealt with a small legal issue with a band from the Boston area, forcing us to slightly change our name, adding "A.D." officially making our name "Mourningside A.D."!

Currently, we are celebrating the release of our debut 7 inch, "Confessions of Disbelief" released by Hardpress Records, which we just supported with a short trip up to Washington, with a stop in Redding, California. The stop in Redding was wet and awkward, with a total of about 20 kids showing up (including the bands). We pulled into Bellingham, WA with myself (Damon) asking, with a sickly voice, everyone if they had seen the T.V. show, "Northern Exposure" because I felt like we were in the town where it was filmed. We were warmly invited into a house, which looked like it had been set up to be torn down, with matresses blocking the windows and doors and vegan food being made in the kitchen. We played first, followed by Not Sorry and Envision. These two bands were not only made up of great, friendly people, but they played loud and tight. They nearly brought the house to the ground, making our trip up there well worth it. Thanks Casey! We stayed in the ReactRecords HQ for both nights of our stay. All of those guys were so nice and we are so grateful for them putting up with us for 3 days. The next night we played in Seattle with the same line-up, but adding on Parasitic Skies, who only played a couple of songs, due to the singer having swine flu. (Yes, I used the same mic that he did.) Again, the other bands killed it. They were loud, full of energy and very tight. We snapped off a great group photo, minus Parasitic Skies. The trip up to the NW was beautiful, filled with the nicest people we've come across in a long time. The return home was a sad one, knowing we all had to go back to our lives.

We have a few shows coming up, which will be posted shortly.

Also, we are writing in hopes of another release by Spring or Summer. More details about that in the near future.

Until then,

Damon & Mourningside A.D.

Pick up the 7 inch here! www.mourningside.bigcartel.com
Listen to music here!! www.myspace.com/mourningsidehc