Well at first tell about your group, its history and what instrument each of you plays on? Who writes texts? How do u create music? What sense of your band's name? You play in two groups apparently. Tell me about another one.
-Who we are - No Heart is Mick - Guitar/Vocals - writes a majority of the riffs, and a better part of the lyrics - Also plays in off the clock, works and has a family - most spare time spent watching Seinfeld; Jorden Fuckin' Barry - Plays bass, apprentice HVAC worker, hot blooded scorpio, also plays bass in Off The Clock - Will - Drums, works on motorcycles, has a family, writes some music, some lyrics, is old and exhausted, most time spent trying to find a soft place to lie down, also drums for Bad Parts - Mikey Jo - Guitar and choreographer - spare time spent eating sandwiches from 24 hour supermarkets also plays bass in Suede Razors.
-History - Mikey Jo while living in California, put myself (Will) in touch with Mick when Mick moved back to Victoria from Bradford UK, shortly after I had moved to Victoria from Vancouver. Jorden had already connected with Mick, so upon actually connecting, a band was formed shortly afterwards. Initially there was another guitar player though that did change shortly after our first recording, it wasn't until we were writing music for the second recording that our sound really was found, we continued as a 3 piece until circumstance found Mikey living back in our end of the world and lookin for something to do. Mick and myself having both known Mike for some time (and myself having previously played in a band with him some 16 years previous) were keen on playin with Mikey. No Heart are good and competent as a 3 piece, but a second guitar also adds options musically which are otherwise not there. Mikey offered his services up as second guitar player and we took him up on the offer.
- Histories - prior to No Heart, Mick has played in Last Crusade, Thankless Graft and I'm sure some other less accomplished bands not worth mentioning. Mick has always played guitar and/or sang to the best of my knowledge. I have always only been a drummer I drummed for Emergency, Alternate Action for a period, The Zipguns, Hells Radio, and several other bands which again probably are not worth mentioning. Jorden has not played in any groups previously. Mikey played in The Subway Thugs, Emergency, Sydney Ducks and Suede Razors, and much like Mick and Myself, several other bands of lesser acclaim.
- The Name - Most bands will probably say that settling on a name is the hardest thing, there are just so few good names and most have been already used. A lot of bands just give up and settle on a tragic name and hope they can get by on the merit of their music (at least that's my guess as I look at some of the band names that are out there) We were struggling to find a name of quality, Mick was round mine, we were lookin through my records and at some song titles.... Pure Mania from the Vibrators come out and No Heart being a song on the LP it stood out (good name, simple, strong) - the most shocking thing to us was that the name hadn't yet been used (Except as the villain from the Care Bears cartoon) Nothing clever, just a good name, all credit to the Vibrators.
- Other band, I can only guess this question is for Mick - Off the Clock are just fun, Florida (singer) is a good guy and should sing in a band, so a band were found.... If the question is about Bad Parts, for me, I aim to play the kind of music that I want to listen to - Sometimes I listen to the Jam, sometimes The Real Kids, sometimes Blitz, sometimes Eddie Cochran and so on.... - I have little to no interest in playing in cover bands, I play music that I wanna listen to. For me that often means more than one musical outlet. The guys in Bad Parts are good friends who I met through playing in other previous bands of mine... I guess for me most of it is music for music's sake.
What do you want to achieve by playing music, what’s the idea of the band? And tell us a bit about your political beliefs if there are?
Ha! I guess I sorta answered the first part of the question with my last answer - I wanna play music that I wanna listen to. For me it's music for music's sake. I keep my head on straight by playing/listening to music. As far as politics, you'd would have to catch me over a pint and get me to share my opinions on whichever subject it were that you were interested in specifically. I have a lot of opinion, about politics, about my country, town, work, etc - none of that really has anything to do with the music I write or play. Playing in Skinhead bands, politics is always a question that gets asked, but the same words can be said with different inflection and they come off serious or sarcastic depending on how you say it. If you want to know my feelings that's all well and good, but they are mine, not No Heart's. So basically I'm taking a pass on the rabbit hole of this question. What I can say is that life is too important to take seriously...
Please tell about things that inspire you for writing texts and music and about things that influence you (in creativity and everyday life). What are your texts about?
Much of our songs are about everyday life. I look at the lyrics I write, and they usually seem angry, just a vent for my frustration. My situation is not unique, I work, I try and meet obligations, try and enjoy myself, and despite my best efforts (or because of) life keeps happening. I write what I know mostly. I look at Micks lyrics, and I imagine that his writing approach is not that far from mine. We work, try and meet our daily obligations and just try and have a laugh as much as possible. We write what we know, and I think much like the music, we write the lyrics that we would want to hear.
What about your city? What are there bands, magazines? Are there division in skins movement on RASH / SHARP / Apolitical skins? What about nazi-skins? Are there they in Canada?
I've only lived in Victoria for the last 3 years. I am reasonably hermitous outside of music. Most of my time is at work or spending time with my family. There are definitely good bands, though it would seem (to me at least) that a lot of the bands are of the drunk skate punk variety - bands sounding like another version of the Dayglo Abortions, also a reasonable amount of stoner rock bands. There are some great bands playing, the biggest challenge is seeing them. Venues are few, you often stand a better chance of seeing a quality local band playing a house party. There is a strange divisiveness, people that go to hardcore shows seem to stick to hardcore shows, people that go to post punk shows seem to only go to post punk shows, there aren't a lot of people in town, and it seems even smaller with that divisiveness. I don't understand it really. I would think that a good show would be something that would draw a bigger crowd, but the genre barrier seems to be a big hurdle for some people here.
As far as SHARP, RASH, etc, there isn't really any traction to the agenda driven divisions. There are only a handful of people in town that are even tied to skinhead in any capacity. If they all started throwing labels at one another such as "Person A has this record by this band who played with some other band who's guitar player shared a seat on a train with the second cousin of the great grandson of this notorious member of the SS in WW2, so person A is a neo nazi and should be chastised" Then there wouldn't be a handful of people, there would be just the one with the loudest voice shouting their accusations and judgments, while everyone else would have moved on. I know that it is like that elsewhere, I think it is tragic really. I think that the internet having given people an anonymous voice with which they can throw out their accusations has made it worse. Being a small city (or large town) with geographical obstacles limiting access (we are on an island - a large island, but still an island) I think allows the few people in/on the fringes of the scene the ability to get to know one another and judge one another on the quality of their character rather than some silly accusation or rumor thrown about on the internet.
What of modern groups are interesting for you and worthy of mark?
Sabotage from Sweden, with whom we have a split coming out soon on Rebellion Records and BDS. We also previously did a split with Melbourne Australia's The Opposition, Mick recently played me some of their newer material and they have only gotten better since the split. Definitely still a band to watch. Squelette are a new band from France, again introduced to me by Mick and they are definitely worth watching for going by what I heard.
Can Oi!\Punk music become the reason of positive changes inside our scene and in surrounding world in your opinion?
If it motivates some one to do something with their life then yeah, I imagine it can. As far as a great cultural shift, I don't really see that happening any time soon. Oi! is tied to skinhead which is plagued by people wanting to quantify the political agendas of the bands based on little or no fact, and even less actual research... What Oi! is to me is Punk. As far as the music changing the scene, I'm not sure I see that happening, I think it all evolves together for better or worse.
Can you list: what do you like and hate in skin-head society?
Well, I imagine that I've already touched on some of the things that bother me with my previous answers, and if you read a little more into it, also some of what I like. I don't really call myself a skinhead anymore, I haven't for a long time. I still crop my hair short, usually wear mutton chops, 501s and soccer trainers - I frequently wear fred perrys and ben shermans and harringtons and the like as well, but as far as throwing a label on myself, I'm Will. It seems that political bias always needs to be reviewed so that as a skinhead, you can be put in the appropriate category - I don't like that, I don't do that (or I try not to) I am only speaking for myself here, however. I do like the fashion (not so much jeans rolled up above knee high army boots), I love a lot of the music (Reggae, Soul, Ska, Rocksteady, Punk, Oi!, Northen Soul etc...) ,I love old Italian scooters, I like the working class sensibilities, but that said, I can't be fucked to seek the approval of someone if they think that my way of dress isn't skinhead enough for whatever reason, after all, I haven't referred to myself as a skinhead in ages. I still with No Heart play Skinhead music, I don't try and distance myself from skinhead, I just don't feel the need to classify and categorize myself either.
In Russia I often find the opinion that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the Western world and in Russia itself there was an attack on the rights of workers. In Austria, for example, plan to return to 12 hour working day. Can you say something like that about Canada?
I guess the biggest thing I can say about Canada, and certainly Vancouver and to a lesser degree, but still very much the case Victoria, the cost of living has skyrocketed, while wages stagnate or even have dropped. A tear down house on a tiny plot of land in Vancouver is now a multi million dollar prospect, most regular workers couldn't afford that if they were paid 10 times what they are now. Houses sit empty, while the working poor with full time jobs are sleeping in shelters. A good paying job in Vancouver is doing construction because they keep building new towers of condominiums. The workers build 'em but can never afford to live in 'em. Most of my friends from Vancouver were priced out and moved away, I did the same. The city has become a ghost town and it disgusts me. The same thing is happening here in Victoria, just a little later than it did in Vancouver. Canada or at least BC hasn't been bad as far as workers rights go, you can collect overtime and all the rest, you just can't afford to live here even if you do work seems to be the trend.
What do you guys do in everyday life besides music?
I work on motorcycles as a job, I have a 9 year old girl, I basically am a dad most of the time, and at work the rest.I listen to music and read quite a lot. I ride my motorcycle when I can. Mick has a 1 year old and another on the way, like myself, aside from work, a lot of his time is spent with family. I think we all try and get out and have a laugh when we can. Jorden spends his free time playing skateboard and watching cartoons. Mikey spends free time frequenting the buffet on BC ferries during his jaunts over to the island to rehearse with us. The rest of his time are spent waiting to catch the Ferry over here or to get back to the main land. On occasion he can be found DJing at hot dog restaurants.
Describe the usual working week of a usual Canadian skin.
This answer of course assumes I am a usual Canadian Skin (which I may not be) But a regular week for me is spent working way too many hours (10+ a day 5 days a week minimum) - I have a good job and like what I do, but I also have a lot of obligations and so I work my ass off to try and meet them. Spare time is spent with my family as much as possible and I still try and squeeze in a couple of nights a week to play music. The one luxury I do have is my work is also the rehearsal space for both of my bands (The down side there is that I spend even more time at my place of work) - Somewhere in between all of that, I try and throw a few cups of coffee, a few beers and even a meal or two into my body... and if I can I'll try and catch a bit of sleep and maybe a shower and shave.
Do you support any football / hockey team?
I think Mick supports Bradford city football club, for myself, I follow motorcycle road racing (grand prix and superbike) - not really typical skinhead sport but it's what I like. When I lived in Vancouver, I used to go to Whitecaps matches frequently, right up until they moved into the big stadium and quadrupled ticket prices. I think, feeling priced out of living in Vancouver, I share an equal level of resentment to the football team, so I really can't say I support the Whitecaps, but at the same time it is the only team I ever actively did support. I'm not typical Canadian in that I don't care about hockey at all.
Pretty standard question: what do you know/think about Russia and local skin-community?
Quite honestly, very little. I've never been, and I simply don't trust what I hear/read on the internet. I personally don't know any skins, or even punks from Russia for that matter. I would love the opportunity to see the place and learn about it first hand, but I really haven't the faintest idea about the scene there.
Are important world events for you? Do you watch a TV news , taking part in some kind of social or political movements and organizations?
I do pay attention to what's going on as much as I can, I hope generally for things to be less shitty the world over, but it seems to be the power is in the hands of fools. I find much of what I hear/read about to be almost comical in how fucked up things have gotten. I am not active in any political movements. I vote in every election I am eligible to vote in, so I do participate in Canada's democracy; though just as often I will spoil a ballot. I am participating but also expressing my disgust at the options presented I suppose. I have a daughter; I want things to be better for her than they were/are for me, so I do what I can at that level, but most of what I do is try and teach her how to get on in the wold.
Do you follow political news of your country?
Yes
What reliable sources of information about Canada can you advise? Are there any truthful media in the US? What sources do you use yourself?
I guess meet the people here. Everyone will have an opinion, some might even have an educated one. You get to know the forest once you've met the trees if that makes sense. As far as truthful media in the US, I just don't know what to say there. Everything from every side of every argument seems to be skewed through selective use of facts, or just stubborn denial of obvious truths. There seems to be a lot of "If I just say no long enough it will become the truth" I think similar to what I said about meeting the people in Canada to get an understanding of Canada, if you look at all the varied arguments the media from the US makes about any given subject, you can weave it together to get some sort of truth... you just have to be able to stomach some of the absolute garbage that is spewed first. I guess it is also worth mentioning that that applies as much to the biased media which has backers with agendas as it does to individuals on the internet who think that they are important and deserve a place on the internet, when they really don't.
Canada recently has legalized cannabis. How do you feel about that? Was the fight for legalization preceded this decision?
I honestly am not fussed either way. I don't partake, nor do I intend to once it is legal, so for me it really doesn't apply. I imagine that resources which were spent fighting pot can be better used, but also they probably won't be. In BC (the province I live in) a lot of money comes through because of pot. A lot of people rely on that money without knowing it - the people with dirty money launder it by buying cars and stereos and clothes and all sorts. The source of the illicit money is rarely questioned, but a lot of people would miss it if it suddenly all dried up. I honestly don't know if that will or won't happen. I guess time will tell.
What are your plans for near future?
Work, sleep, eat, repeat. As far as No Heart goes, we have a split coming out with Sabotage from Sweden, A song about to come out on a compilation, a few more recorded and ready for release once we settle on what we're doing. We would like to get to Europe to play a few shows, otherwise we will keep writing and playing for now. We have a few local shows lined up later this year(Skins At The Sea Weekender), but not a lot else.
Thank you for the interview, anything else to add?
Cheers for the interest. If you haven't checked out the LP yet, I hope you get a chance, and I hope you enjoy it as well.