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New Bruises Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock
An Interview with Vocalist/Guitarist Bryon Lippincott
by Fake Train
Fuck it up, punk rock! Florida's New Bruises definitely contains dirty boots. Brothers Bryon and Eric Lippincott used to bruise ears in the melodically dynamic Mid Carson July (an outfit I enjoyed seeing live more than any). With a new band, a new moniker, and a fresh beginning, New Bruises recently released their debut full length Transmit! Transmit! on Kiss Of Death (owned and operated by Bryon). Transmit! Transmit! is hands down one of the most explosive punk-rock releases of the year. Full of piss-n-vinegar, New Bruises plays heartfelt driving music that overshadows the mundane commercialized punk-rock all the young whippersnappers are eating up nowadays. With this interview, singer/guitarist Bryon talks about the demise of Mid Carson July, the creation of New Bruises, his ever growing love of playing punk-rock, and a top five list of his current favorite records to spin while out on tour.
Fake Train: First, if possible, I would like to ask a few questions concerning Mid
Carson F'n July.
Bryon: No problem. Hopefully I am a good voice for those questions. I am really
only one fourth of MCFNJ and there were actually other really important
parts of that band.
I've always been curious. Why did the band leave the rolling hills of PA
for the flatlands of Florida?
Remember "Y2K"? Well, 1999 was full of hype about everything that was
going to go wrong when the year 2000 hit. When 2000 hit it was
completely uneventful and the last MCFNJ tour just before the New Year
had just resulted in un-employment, getting dumped or cheated on by our
girlfriends of the moment and losing drummer number four or five. In
turn, my brother Eric (bassist/vocals) had just driven down to
Atlanta to help my dad work on his house. I think this was also the same
trip that Eric got his hands tattooed in Orlando by Scott White. Anyway,
on route back to Pennsylvania he pulled over at South of the Border and
called me from a payphone. Eric talked about how warm and nice it was
down south and suggested that the band should move down to Orlando
or Atlanta and look for a new drummer there since we were having no luck
at home. I guess it seemed like a great idea because we left in less
than a month from that phone conversation.
We packed up our gear and a minimal amount of our belongings, loaded a
van and a car, and said goodbye. Six of us headed to Sunny Florida in
February of 2000 and most of us have never really looked back.
Funny enough though we did plan on going to Orlando to hang with Scott
but we rerouted to Tampa because some friends from an earlier tour (Glenn, Arielle, and Amy) had an apartment in Tampa and offered us a
floor to crash on for a few months until we could get on our feet and
that took us forever, we couch surfed until December of that year.
After almost a decade rockin' ears, Mid Carson July decided to call it
quits after the release of Wessel, one of the most potent albums the
band ever released. Why did the band decide to finally call it quits?
I don't know maybe we fucked up! It is weird because just lately we have
gotten a lot of really positive feedback on that record. I didn't hear
much about it until the past year and now people are telling me how much
they loved that record. I guess timing is everything and we have never
been good at that. To be honest, I don't think we ever saw how Wessel
would be received because we only toured for like a month right when the
record came out and than we went back to Tampa and sat on our porch and
drank away the next few months. I guess we also had steady girlfriends
and fulltime jobs that required a lot of attention but I seem to
remember hanging out a lot and swilling down a whole lot of malt liquor.
The result about hanging out on the porch a lot was talking about the
band a lot. The band was not seeing eye-to-eye on a whole lot of
levels. I guess we thought the more popular the band everything else
would improve. The better the record label we were on and the bigger
the shows were than we would feel that much better. Maybe it was like
we based our self worth on MCFNJ's success and it didn't function like
that for us at all. We were somewhat self-sabotaging and fucked up at
that time in the band. It was like a pressure cooker building up steam.
I mean we got into punk as a rebellious act and when you start playing
bigger shows and Warped Tour they tell you all the rules you have to follow
and all the things you have to do to sell more records. How the fuck is
that punk rock? Regardless, I think that was a final nail in the
proverbial coffin
Strangely, we have all remained good friends and we never really broke
up. We just need a simple basement tour to get our heads on straight
and we couldn't manage to do that. So we sat on that porch with malt
liquor in hand and decided to take a short hiatus for a while until we
were ready to play and have fun again. Sadly, that day didn't surface
for us and Eric and I started New Bruises in 2004 to attempt to say
something pertinent and have fun playing music again.
When I was first getting into underground music back in high school, Mid
Carson July was one of those bands that broke my punk-rock cherry. The
Tompkins Square Riot Gathering Fest in Pittsburgh was the first time I
experienced MCJ live (and the first time I ventured and drove out of my
small town of Latrobe). Since that first show, I've seen MCJ more than
any band, even to this day. The energy and love of playing radiated from
each member of the band, and every show was as inspiring as the next.
What have been some of your favorite bands to see live over the years, and
has there been any standout shows along the way?
Man, I remember the Tompkins Square Riot Gathering Fest. That was back
in the day were we had a lot of fun playing fests and there was a real
sense of community and a strong DIY ethic. Some of my favorite shows
were back from that time period and earlier. Some of my favorite bands to watch have been inspiring would have to be: Lifetime, Kerosene 454, Boy's Life, Giant's Chair, Quicksand, Burn, Gorilla Biscuits, Turning Point, The Jazz June, Braid, Samuel, Junction, Lincoln, Piebald, Hot Water Music, Chisel, Crown Hate Ruin, Dillinger Four, Jawbox, and Weston.
There had been a lot of stand out shows over the years, a few great
examples would be like when we played a small kitchen in Alabama where
kids were piled on the counters to watch us, the first time we played
with the Gainesville Fest in Florida when we had spent the prior night
in jail for trespassing, a day festival in Wilkes-Barre where the
electricity went out and a ton of kids sang along with just the drums
and then a huge chunk of the audience left when Thursday came on after
us, and all the miscellaneous basements and spaces crammed with kids
were monumental for us.
Oh and by the way thanks, I am glad that some people got that energy
from us. We really lived, ate, and breathed Mid Carson July. At one
point we had fulltime jobs and still practiced five times a week and
played shows almost every weekend. It is all we wanted to do and we
were also kids from a small town in PA. It was like an escape and we
loved it.
What bands that are no longer together do you regret not being able to
see live (even though you might have had the opportunity to see them)?
There are probably three bands that I never got to see that I could have
and did not so I will mention those. The first would have to be Dag
Nasty. I just couldn't get anywhere they were playing because I was so
young and it was really hard to find out about shows before the onset of
the Internet.
The second was Fugazi around the time Repeater came out. I missed this
show because I was a waiter at a crappy restaurant when I was 18 and
trying to pay for college. I was so bummed out that I ended up quitting
that job and swearing to not let any crappy job control my life ever
again. Stubbornly, I never went to see Fugazi any of the multiple
opportunities after that. I just need a constant reminder of how I
wanted to live my life and begrudging Fugazi kept me in check. I still
got every record when they came out.
The last is the saddest story to date. I missed Jawbreaker on the Dear
You tour. We had gotten tickets to see them in Philly at the Trocadero
and the night they were playing was icy and sleeting. Philly was at
least a two hour drive from my hometown and we bailed on the show due to
the weather. We validated that decision with reassurances like we'll
catch them next time and Dear You isn't as good as 24 Hour Revenge
Therapy and Bivouac so the show would probably be lame anyway. In
hindsight, that is a tough pill to swallow.
Why the change of moniker? Currently New Bruises contains two former
members of MCJ, and it seems like outfits like Zao, Don Caballero, and
Helmet, among others, that have gone through countless lineup changes,
still tightly hold onto the same name?
I don't know. New start, new beginnings, I guess. It is not that we
didn't love MCFNJ but that chapter was over and Mikey (guitarist) was a huge part of
that band. We almost changed the name after Chuck (drummer) left. Honestly, we
discussed changing the name of the band when we were recording Wessel
because it felt like we were a different band. Maybe it should have
been the first New Bruises record. Ultimately, I think a band is made up
of the members and their relationship it seemed pointless to hold on
to a name for the sake of name recognition. We wanted to find our
audience as New Bruises and we have not tried to ride the coat tails of
our old bands. We did not want to set up too many unrealistic
expectations for this band and feel disappointed if we did not live up
to the expectations we had for Mid Carson July. We needed the
separation and I am glad we did it and so far everything has been
amazing as New Bruises, I think Eric and I will keep playing in bands
forever.
To my understanding, Transmit! Transmit! was recorded before Chris
Murray joined New Bruises as a third guitarist. How did Chris become a
part of the band? Considering Chris used to do vocal work in the equally
amazing Grey A.M., does he contribute vocally in New Bruises as well? Do
you think a fourth guitarist would be outta control, or catapult New
Bruises as one of the most electrifying guitar driven punk-rock bands to
ever plug it in and let loose?
Chris, Eric and I were going to start a band together because we like a
lot of the same music and we have been friends for over ten years. I
realized I was never gong to have enough free time to start that second
band and he suggested the whole third guitarist idea to me. The band
talked it over and it seemed like a great idea so we went for it. It
lasted for about 6 months until Chris quit before tour. So we are now a
two-guitar band again which is fine. We still hang out with Chris and
he is starting that band we had talked about starting with out Eric and
me. Everything is cool but we never really got to get him to sing and
I doubt we will ever have a third guitarist again let alone a fourth but
who knows stranger things have happened. I do believe that four guitars
would be completely outta control and we would be the Spinal Tap of punk
rock.
How did New Bruises hook up with the newly formed Kiss Of Death Records
for Transmit! Transmit!? And will the label every update their website.
like this year?
Hook up is a funny way of putting it. I created Kiss Of Death Records so
we would have an avenue we trusted to put out the first New Bruises
record. We weren't sure where we wanted to be, how much we could tour,
and a lot of things seemed to have changes since the last Mid Carson
July record so we decided to let me do it. I have a lot invested in it
doing okay so we knew it would be okay. I also do the website which I
suck at so it will be the same for ever unless some nice kids offer to
help me out and get the web store up and running and update the thing.
I can't afford to pay to have the maintenance done it need so I hope it
will just work itself out hear in the future. Who does the FakeTrain
page it looks amazing! You should sweet-talk them into doing mine.
How did the first New Bruises tour go?
The first New Bruises tour was amazing. I still can't believe how good
it was. We played with amazing bands in amazing cities to amazing kids
who were all super supportive and accommodating. I really feel like we
were fortunate and lucky, I guess. This tour was by far the best first
tour I have ever been on and it may have been better than some MCFNJ
tours in general. The last tour actually restored my faith that real
punk rock is still alive and well in the basements and local spaces of
at least the East Coast. I believe there are kids out there hungry for
something other than shit pumped out in the local malls and on MTV. I
know that punk will survive this wave of new trends and that is why we
are going to keep touring in playing as much as we can.
What's the future hold for New Bruises?
We are just taking it day by day. We are stoked people are even
interested in checking us out let alone figuring out what we are doing
next. We are getting ready to record a few songs for a tour seven inch
for the UK to come out on Cat and Cakey Records. We are going to see
about more touring around the US and we are going to try to tour the
UK this fall.
I'm always curious to know what music gets bands through those long
endless trips from show to show. I know when I travel I always have
specific albums I love to listen to while behind the wheel, like Neil
Young's Decade and Dinosaur Jr's Green Mind. What are your top 5
favorite records to listen to while out on tour, other than a little
Johnny Cash on the radio (and if you can, please elaborate on why each
one is special to you)?
As much as this sounds like a copout, this is a really tough question to
answer. The staple records we listen to seem to change a lot from tour
to tour and year to year. In MCFNJ, some tours we would only listen to
classic rock like Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osborne, and Black Sabbath. There
would be other times where we would listen to early DC stuff or only old
school NY hardcore. It seems to be somewhat cyclic because I still
listen to a lot of the same stuff I listened to 15 years ago and I pick
up more music constantly so I can't really define the staples but I can
give you a run down of what some of my personal fall back records are
that I still live to listen to and probably did listen to on this last
tour.
Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy - Jawbreaker was not the first
melodic punk record I ever heard but it was brilliantly poetic and
abrasive at the same time. Growing up on the East coast I listened to a
lot of Dischord and DC stuff that was usually melodic but Jawbreaker
changed the way I played punk music.
The Smiths - The Singles - Oh Morrissey, you are so tragic. The Smiths
will probably be constant rotation for the rest of my life. Before I
got wrapped in hardcore music when I was a teenager I listened to the
Smiths with high school sweethearts. They were usually punk/gothic/new
wave chicks and I never really got it until I was older. I love it but
its overly dramatic at times.
Dillinger Four - Mid Western Songs - Probably one of the Best Punk
Records of the nineties. Proving that getting older, fatter, and more
sarcastic keeps the heartbeat of punk rock young and strong. Every time
I feel like I am getting too old or tired for all of this shit I find
some band that restores my faith in punk. D4 and this record was that
for me in the late nineties
Cursive - The Ugly Organ - I was not a fan of Cursive in the beginning.
We had played with them in the mid nineties and I thought they were okay
but they never really won me over. As more people liked their records
the more I resisted the idea that they were a good band. I didn't
listen to Domestica for at least the first year it was out of sheer
stubbornness. I screwed up. That record is amazing and they followed it up
with an amazing EP and then released The Ugly Organ which is arguably
the best flowing record I have ever listened to. Amazing dynamics in
the songs and an amazing sense of desperation in the vocals makes this
record perfect.
Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today - Posi-hardcore from my youth. I got to
see them play in the early nineties and completely wanted to be in a
clone band of them. We would drive hours to go skating and never got
tired of listening to this record. I still listen to this record on an
almost monthly basis at least 15 years after I heard it for the first
time.
(My disclaimer is that these five in no way encompass my favorite or
monumental records of all time I would probably need 100 slots for my
personal list)
My friend Ryan from Black Tie Bombers came up with an awesome and
humorous list that he wanted me to use.
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe - This album start to back is just wicked man, I know he's gotten really
popular and such nowadays, but you just got to give this CD a chance.
It's heavy, but catchy at the same time, and the lyrics are like a big
horror movie!
Godsmack - Awake - Now I know what you're thinking. A punk rocker listening to Godsmack is crazy right? Well when I first heard that riff on the commercial for
the navy I was intrigued so I bought the album on a whim and was
pleasantly surprised by the heaviness in the riffs but the serious and
sensible lyrics. It's great to listen to on tour late at night to stay awake.
Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out - I've realized this list probably is surprising, but hear me out. I normally would consider a band like this radio pre manufactured trash, but after hearing it from my little sister I realized how infectious and
catchy it is, with great lyrics
Metallica - St. Anger - Now a lot of people passed this album off because of the production, but that's what makes it so great. It's Metallica doing what they do best
and just shredding the fuck out of their guitars, it's fast and it's angry, and loud, what more could you want? A classic.
Stars And Stripes - Shaved For Battle - Skinhead Oi! punk from Choke, the man who brought you the famous militant straight-edge hardcore band Slapshot. The songs are poppy and catchy, and are mostly about being American and fighting, what else could you want? I think the title track off the album is explanation enough and
the chorus goes as follows: "Our heads are shaved for battle, and that's what we're gonna do. Our Docs are made for kickin', and we'll kick the shit outta you!"
Mid Carson F'n July to New Bruises! I just want to thank you for
writing exciting and passionate music, and for sparking my love of
punk-rock back in the good ol' 90s. And, don't forget about Pittsburgh
on your next tour. Rock!
Thanks. We promise to try and to include Pittsburgh on our next tour!
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