Can we start again, go back to what it meant back then? The intentions have never been lost, but in the case of Bane, we can’t go back. Instead, there are a few select chances left for both Europeans and North Americans to see the legendary Boston hardcore outfit, who will be drawing a line under their illustrious career in 2016. They did want to go out on their own terms though, and to capitalize on the chemistry and joy they felt onstage, nothing short of a global farewell tour wasn’t going to cut it. I caught the group on their Tallinn date and was assured in person, not through words but through presence, that this is a band who still wants to do what they’ve done for the past 20 years, and that the decision to hang up the mic wasn’t something that came overly easy. In fact, after this interview, I’m still not convinced that Bane actually want to quit, but all things must come to a close eventually, I guess. As Aaron Bedard, the vocalist for Bane and my interviewee, has always said, hardcore is a young man’s game. But what about a young soul in an old(er) body? I’ll just let Aaron explain everything.




This is your goodbye tour to Europe and it’s the first time you’ve come to Estonia, so I’d like to say a big thank you to you for finding the time to come over here. With that being said, the scene is quite small in Estonia and you’re a band that is accustomed to playing for hundreds of people nightly, at the bare minimum. How does the number of the crowd affect your approach to a show? Do you approach shows differently when one day you play to thousands of people and the other you play to a hundred, if you’re lucky?

I think so. I think that some shows are easier to get through when you know the crowd is excited for you and they pull you through it with the energy that starts to feed off of each other. When the kids are going crazy, it forces you to go a little more crazy, and those shows are really fun. But these ones (with smaller numbers) are exciting too, because you need to dig a little deeper and remember why you started the band, remember how it was like when you first wrote songs. At that time you would have been fine with playing to fifteen kids. When this band started out, our early tours we were basically playing to nobody, so we don’t have any problem with that and there’s an element in that which even makes it exciting for us. It’s definitely harder, but we’re not afraid of a bit of hard work.

A really great thing about you guys is that you’ve never shied away from playing smaller European club shows. A lot of US bands still don’t and seem to prefer to stay in the confines of North America. In your opinion, why do you think that is? Is it purely a financial issue, or is there more to it?

I think it’s a case-to-case scenario. I can’t really speak as to why some bands wouldn’t be able to do this or wouldn’t be as motivated to. I know some that have done it and they haven’t got a really positive experience – after coming once, they’re not that excited to go back again. But others, like Bane, have always been inspired to come back. We love it in Europe, we love it abroad and far from home. It’s hard to put one answer on it. To come to places like this, you have to be willing to rough it a little bit. It’s not going to be the comfiest, it’s not going to be the easiest, and you have to have a fair degree of willingness to face that, in order to not be miserable through this. For whatever reason, Bane is made up of guys who are willing to tough it out, to be cold or deal with rough circumstances in order to play shows.

When visiting different countries, is there a checklist of things that you like to do or experience? For example, some people are beer fans and want to try the local brews, others like to shop around, and so on. Do you have something like that – a must-have experience when visiting a foreign country?

Not anymore. Maybe if we first came here (Europe), then we had a lot of things we wanted to see and do – cultural stuff and to check out things we had seen in movies growing up. We were lucky to get to do a shit-ton of it especially on our first tour. We were young, we were fired up, we were here for a long time, and we didn’t sleep much! That first tour, we just went and went and went. Now the years have gone on and we have been able to experience most of the cities in Europe that we wanted to, and have gotten to do a lot of cool stuff. I don’t feel there’s much of a checklist left. One thing I wanted to do (this time) is to see Russia. Once I realized that bands were able to go there, I was excited for that opportunity and we’re getting to do that at the end of this tour. There’s a few places that we didn’t reach, with Iceland and Hawaii being the biggest that we talked about but never managed, but for the most part we got to do and visit all the places we wanted to – we got real lucky.

And Iceland didn’t come to fruition why? Didn’t you get promoters behind it or what was the deal with Iceland?

I don’t know why, really. I know that a lot of the bands that played there would go there on a layover. If you fly to Iceland you could extend your layover there for the course of a few days and you could usually book a show, but that never came together for us. But the place has always seemed beautiful to me.

In an interview back in March, it was either you or one of your bandmates who said that with this last European tour, you’re most looking forward to hanging out with kids from all kinds of different places one last time. Are there any specific things that fans want to talk about with you after the shows, besides music?

Sure. Largely it’s driven by music, or their relationship with this band, which was formed through their love of music, but you talk to kids about different hobbies that we have, or different memories that we have, that aren’t necessarily rooted in music. But the interactions, I think, are all born from them (the fans) being hardcore fans and having a strong relationship with hardcore music. But there have been all sorts of funny conversations and interactions with kids. We had a kid come and hang out with us last night, and he just wanted to learn the game backgammon, that we were playing, he just wanted to hang out with us and learn what we were doing. Of course the social aspect is important, we don’t like to be sort of separated from the whole event, we like to be among the kids and see what’s going on in their town. That’s always been a part of it for us.

Most relationships, good ones at least, are give-and-take scenarios. What does meeting these kids give back to you?

For me, it keeps me grounded. It reminds me where I came from and why I wanted to be in a band. It reminds me of the amazing fact that I am in the places I am, based solely on the fact that kids like our music. It’s a pretty overwhelming thing and I never wanted to lose track of it. I never wanted to feel like this was owed to me, and I didn’t want to get spoiled or so ahead of myself that I’d forget why we originally formed this band, or what it was like to walk out of the first airport in Europe we ever walked out of. When I looked around and I just couldn’t believe we were there. To be here tonight, being in Finland the night before, it just reminds me how lucky I have been.

This is the last tour for Bane in Europe, followed by the farewell leg in the US. Can you see you and your current bandmates doing things other than music together in the future? Could there be other projects with the same group of guys that could pop up?

I think so. James (Siboni, bass) and I did a fanzine before. It was quite fulfilling and we’re talking about doing more issues of that. We’re also talking about writing some music together after the band. I’m gonna stay friends with these guys and I think we’ll continue to hang out. Maybe be even more motivated to see each other than ever before, because we won’t have tours where we’re forced to spend huge chunks of time in the van together, which is why we don’t hang out a ton off of the road. When that is taken away from us, I think we’ll be motivated to go to baseball games together, to go to movies, go to shows. I’ll see them around haha.

Some people, I guess myself included since I’m asking this, might say that, “ok, you’ve done what you love in life thus far, shouted out your opinion loud, traveled across the globe, connected with thousands of people, where do you go from here? ” How to do you intend to keep the fire burning without the band as your outlet and how do you intend to keep on discovering new things?

You hope that you learn something through all this. I hope this taught us a lesson about what it takes in order to feel inspired and to live a life that’s more heightened. This band has taught us that you have to take it (the moment/life), you can’t sit around and wait for it to come to you. You have to be willing, like we spoke earlier, to maybe suffer a little bit, to struggle, but anything is attainable if you set your mind to it and if you work hard enough. Whether it’s music or whatever is awaiting for us next: being a good family member, being a good friend, or whatever really. I believe there were real lessons that we learned automatically by seeing what working hard and being in this band did for us.

Regarding hardcore, when you look at it, it’s an extreme music genre where people really bond together like family. Most local scenes are made up of these family-like packs, I would say. What would you say is in the culture, ethos and music of hardcore, that binds people, who are initially strangers, together so tightly?

I think you answered your own question. I think there is a family element that is woven into the fabric, that is there automatically, that’s embedded in the DNA of the music and in the message. There are wayward kids who are drawn to that. Angry, fucked-up kids who maybe don’t come from the best of homes, or maybe have some social anxieties, or were picked on in high school, and they’re looking for somewhere to belong and for something to call their own. I think almost all teenagers suffer with that to some degree – needing to find your tribe, like you said. Hardcore is ready-made for that. I know that for me it was the first place where I didn’t feel alone, and I clang. I finally felt like there was something that I could be a part of, that made sense to me. When you’re 14 years old, that’s a big deal.

And you’ve obviously stayed true to the scene ever since. If we were to speculate that you won’t write any new music, that this would be it for that chapter, could you see yourself still being active in the hardcore scene in other ways?

Yeah! I don’t see myself getting shut out of this. It’s such a huge part of who I am and I still love it. When I’m home from tour, I still get excited to go to shows, I still check out new bands. It’s not an effort for me, it’s who I am and this is the culture where I feel most comfortable. This is where all my friends are, it’s where my best memories lay, and I still want to see young, exciting bands that bring out a certain response in the kids. That just makes me feel fucking alive. When Bane ends, I don’t see this door suddenly shutting on me – this is who I am. I am indeed starting to get to an age where it maybe doesn’t make a ton of sense to keep participating and going to shows, but I don’t feel ready to stop, I don’t even know how to stop. This is the only thing I love.

Well yeah and it’s kind of difficult to stop doing things that you love, in general. Age shouldn’t define that.

I agree. I get on stage and I preach that a lot, so it’s time for me to walk it like I talk it. When you’re in a band it’s so easy! I’ll soon be 48-49 years old, and it won’t be that easy anymore, but I agree, age is just a number. If something feels right and makes you feel young, then do it.

You touched on this point a little during a previous question, but still: kids with traumatic backgrounds or kids who can’t seem to find their way in life – would you have any words of wisdom for them?

I never really feel like I have any words of wisdom or any sorts of answers. I just know that it’s hard, and it’s especially hard to make it through by yourself. Sometimes you need to reach out to people, you need to admit that you’re scared or confused, and that’s okay. A lot of people take on some pretty dark stuff and carry it with them stubbornly, and that can lead to dangerous things: bad choices, addictions, deep depression. These could maybe be avoided if you reach out to people, because there are people, particularly in this community, that are good, that are caring and want to help people. It may be a cliche, but no one makes it through this alone. That would be the only advice that I feel super comfortable giving. A young person who has been through some terrible things, you don’t have to carry it by yourself. I’ve tried to write songs about it, and we’ve tried to be an approachable band. The banter between songs on stage – a part of it is to inspire a feeling that we are no different than you, we are just all having a conversation here, and this can continue after the band gets off stage. One thing about Bane that has remained is that we are an approachable band, and I think kids feel a connection with us, based on this feeling that we’ve never taken ourselves so seriously where we lost track that we’re just fucked-up kids ourselves. At the end of the day, we’re still trying to find our way and figure it all out. Kids feel some comfort in that, I think. I hope so at least.

Another thing is that, obviously we’re living in this internet age. A lot of our daily interactions have moved online. Do you have any ideas how to keep the camaraderie of past generations alive in this current young generation, that seems to be really disjointed?

People seem to get really caught up in trying to recapture the way it used to be. They don’t like the way the internet has affected peoples’ relationship with music, history of music, and how ready-made people can form their ideas or their record collections, or any of it. But the bottom line is, it’s not going to change. As a culture, we have figured out a way for things to move quicker, and that’s who we are inside. There’s no going back, or at least I don’t believe we can go back from here. Going back doesn’t even sound interesting to me. The thing is to try to stay an authentic person now, with the way things are. Maybe it takes a little more effort, maybe it takes shutting your computer every once in a while and going out, so you ’re not forcing yourself into situations that are away from the immediacy of everything. But it’s not going to change. It’s all going to get faster, things are only going to get more convenient and easier. All we can do is to try to prepare ourselves to be good humans in this culture, where in two hours time you can have the complete history of 1980s hardcore, if you want. If you want to apply yourself and go digging on the right websites, you can find answers that took me 10 years to figure out. It’s just the way that it is now. I don’t think it is a bad thing, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a beautiful thing, but it’s the way that it is. It’s up to the individual to experience all this in a way that is authentic and real, and is just not about gathering information.

Ok cool. Well, for something different: the name of the place escapes me at the moment, but you had a show in Germany, in March-April of this year, and I checked out a video of it. When you were interacting with the crowd, you at one point asked where all the girls where, and then went on a small story how you had just played in Indonesia, where there were even less girls at the show. Is US a place where a lot of girls go to hardcore shows? Down here, I would say it’s also quite male-dominated, even though we have our small, but potent female audience.

The percentage is higher. I wouldn’t say it’s 50:50, but there is always a percentage of girls that are there. Many of them are up front, many are on the stage taking pictures, some of them are involved behind the scenes. Coming from Indonesia, it was fucking crazy. We were playing shows where there were 400-500 kids, and there were maybe 2 girls. Girls are not invited into that world, it seems. I don’t quite understand what’s going on behind the scenes there with the whole dichotomy, but it was jarring to be at shows which were that dominated by men. And yeah, I think I remember that day (that you’re talking about). Sometimes you’ll just be on stage, look out, and you won’t see a girl anywhere, and sometimes that’s distracting to me. Like, “is it really only a bunch of guys here? ” In America that doesn’t happen often, every once in a while you’ll go “goddamn, there’s a lot of dudes here, ” but usually girls come out and are a part of it.

Since you’ve been a part of the scene for a long time, do you have any idea why there might be more girls going to shows in US, as opposed to other regions? When you were talking about Indonesia, you said you felt like girls weren’t even invited to these events. How do girls in the US get involved with the hardcore scene? Can you draw a parallel with Europe maybe?

I can only speak about the American culture that I know. There, girls stopped believing a long time ago that they were second class citizens. Anything that’s available to men is available to them. Whether it’d be good jobs or athletics or being a part of anything, really. In the ’60s there was a feminist revolution that took place, and those were the parents and grandparents of the kids that come out today. They fought and said that they have every right a man has. Now girls grow up believing and fired up to grab their piece of the pie. They won’t be marginalized and pushed to the side. They won’t hold your jacket and watch you dance, and they are right. This is as much theirs as it is anyone’s. It seems to me that in Indonesia, conversations like this aren’t taking place. In America it’s very normal. People don’t even talk about it anymore. Girls just know that they belong here. It’s something that I take for granted, actually; it’s something that is such a part of where we come from, particularly where we live in the North-East of America, where culturally things are pretty progressive, it’s left-wing and liberal, so you don’t hear a lot of serious conversations about what are the girls doing here.

And I can’t really speak about you guys here, for example. I don’t know what you are being taught in schools, I don’t know what your parents are telling you about girls’ roles and the world around you. I can’t say. I would have loved to have been able to talk to a group of ten Indonesian kids though, and ask: “What the fuck, why aren’t you bringing your girlfriends here? This is a beautiful thing, they would benefit by being a part of this.”

Are you a family man as well outside of the band?
No

Was there ever a situation where you felt that you needed more than friendships? Or has this group mentality carried you beautifully through life and you’ve felt right at home here?

I actually spend a lot of time feeling pretty lonely, wishing that I could find my partner, a person who I could move on to the next chapter with, once this is done. I’ve had a lot of failed relationships. A lot of that has to do with me, because I am a very difficult person to be close to. But there’s never been a feeling like I wasn’t wishing to find my other half; to be deeply, deeply in love with someone. I’ve failed with that in every attempt. I’m imagining that the band has played into that, to some degree, whether I want to admit it or not, because it seems a little strange, that I have been able to do this so well and give myself so completely and so readily to Bane. I’ve never had a relationship really blossom and become strong, like some of the other guys in my band have been able to do.

Yeah because it was in 2013 where your longtime bassist, I think, had a second kid, which prompted the whole Bane breaking up thing.

Yeah there are kids everywhere now! Our guitar player’s got one, our drummer’s got a couple of them. Kids, wives, houses, all that.

And is that something that you wouldn’t mind happening to yourself?

No, I don’t aspire to that. I don’t want to have kids – I don’t find that interesting at all. I want to be able to live a life where I can keep moving; to be able to pick up and go, and do my thing. To still live a fairly selfish life, driven towards the things which are inspiring and fun for me. For a minute there last year, I thought that maybe I had found somebody who I was going to be able to do that with, but it didn’t work out in the end. The pull, though, was so strong, that I had to admit to myself, that it’s something which I’d like at some point – to have a real partner in crime. But I’m a hard guy to live and keep up with, so it’s going to take a special sort of someone

For conclusion, you’re a guy who has seen a lot, done a lot, and expressed a lot. When you look back at your career with Bane, is there something that you’re especially proud of? Or is there maybe a special memory that sticks out to you?

I’ve been asked that before actually, and I wish I had better answers. I keep going back to the first letter that I got. When our first demo and our first few 7-inches came out, my home address was printed right on them. You could write to me, and if you wrote to me, I would always write back. Sometimes I would even send a little something. But if you wrote me a physical letter, I would always write back. I remember getting a letter from a kid, where he said that a song that we wrote helped him to quit smoking. For me, that was an overwhelming connection. It made me think that maybe these songs are really going to touch people – it was a very profound feeling. That was very early, it was probably around ’97, where we hadn’t done more than a couple of weekends away from our hometown of Massachusetts. I remember being struck really hard by a sense of responsibility and pride. I felt really proud that a song which I wrote, “Superhero, ” forced some kid’s hand. It really got him to dig deep and quit something that is so terrible, so disgusting, and something that nobody needs in their life. For him to get to the other side, and to credit the band, and thank me personally, that was big, it was like an avalanche. After that, things continued to happen, and we continued to meet kids who were touched by the band in one way or the other. By things that we stood for or things that we said. For me, all these years later, that’s the best part of it all – more than any great shows, or a thousand stage dives, or wild places we’ve gotten to go to. The fact that we stood for something and were able to touch kids in a way that the bands of my youth touched me. To be able to give that back, that is the absolute ultimate and what I’m most proud of. 20 years from now, when I’m looking back and really assessing the legacy of this thing that I did, that will be more important than anything else, for me – that we wrote some songs that made kids want to better their lives.

I think that’s a great note also to end our interview with. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that this final European tour really gets people of their caves, so that they’ll see you one last time, even if it’s for the first time. For example, I’ve seen a lot of your concerts on video, but this is my first time seeing you live in person as well.

Very cool, I get psyched by that, man! Every night this tour, I think I’ve talked to at least one kid who has said that it’s his/hers first time (seeing Bane). And I’m like, “I’m so glad you finally made it, you just fucking made it! ” I still get up there and do keep in mind that this isn’t just about celebrating and patting Bane on the back. This could be some kid’s first show, someone’s first time seeing Bane, and I want them to walk out that door understanding why it’s been so important for us to have this (band) for 20 years.


You can still catch Bane on one of the upcoming European shows. A final farewell tour in The States is, of course, also planned.
01.12.15 Switzerland Zürich @ Dynamo Werk 21
02.12.15 France Lyon @ Warmaudio
03.12.15 Spain Barcelona @ Sala Rocksound
04.12.15 Spain Madrid @ Sala Silikona
05.12.15 Portugal Lisboa @ Republica da Musica
06.12.15 Spain Coruña @ Sala Mardigras
07.12.15 Spain San Sebastian @ Dabadaba
08.12.15 France Toulouse @ Le Saint des Seins
09.12.15 France Paris @ Gibus Club
10.12.15 Germany Stuttgart @ Juha West
11.12.15 Germany Göttingen @ Lumière
12.12.15 Germany Leipzig @ Conne Island
13.12.15 Hungary Budapest @ Dürer Kert
14.12.15 Moscow Russia
15.12.15 Saint Petersburg Russia