Dissolve
A Hard Way to Dissolve by Peter Bottomley

One thing that sets you apart from other groups is your resentful lyrics. What do you think about people calling you one of the angriest bands in hardcore?

I had no idea that we were referred to as one of the angriest bands in hardcore (I don’t get out too much). Every band should be striving to be the angriest band in hardcore. If people think that we are one of the angriest bands i n hardcore then I think that’s cool. They are getting the point.

What is it that motivates you to write such angry, in-your-face lyrics?

For some reason I’ve always had this paranoia that everybody is full of shit. I’m a pretty nice guy, I guess, but it’s hard to trust people. I guess the answer to your question is something that I will be trying to answer for the rest of my life. I’ve really got to lighten up.

Some of the topics that you confront are religion and materialism. Do you think that these are important topics for the hardcore scene to address?

I make a lot of religious references because I was raised a Catholic and it ruined me for good. Materialism is a very important topic to address because I’m really sick to death of the style over substance thing that has always bee n a big part of the scene. Ever since I first started going to shows kids have been really into how they dress and worshipping the cool bands, and making fun of nerdy kids and dissing the uncool bands. Fuck all that. I can’t believe that some of the bi gger bands are actually endorsed by products. Can you believe it? Why do these down’trodden hardcore kids dress so nice to come to shows to sweat and bleed and fall on the dirty floor? When I was 18, I saw Inside Out play and I thought they were fuckin g unreal, raw, uncut anger straight from the heart, not the fist. When I asked my friends what they thought of them they all said that they sucked. One guy even made fun of Zack’s shoes, and cited that as the main reason why they sucked. Five months la ter the Inside Out seven-inch came out and every one of those kids was on their dick and had to have an Inside Out t-shirt. It was that day that I realized that the hardcore scene sucks.

But despite the fact that they carry a message with their music, they seem to think that no one is listening.

What do you think is more important about your songs, the message or the musicianship?

The musicianship. Why? Because no one cares what you have to say. The kids just want to mosh. The political minded kids think everybody is full of shit, and the older crowd are jaded from hearing the same old shit over and over again. If you can lure people in by having your music put together well, then maybe they’ll end up reading the lyric sheet someday. Besides, if there wasn’t musicianship, there wouldn’t be a message.

They also don’t think that the actions of an underground culture can make a real difference on a large scale. But if we improve ourselves than maybe we as a whole can improve.

Do you believe that the hardcore scene is relatively stagnant as far as action in response to our beliefs?

It’s hard for me to say because the message that I’m pushing isn’t about direct action. I’m not really concerned with freedom on a tangible, political level. I’m more into total freedom, the kind of freedom you can get only from c onfronting your own problems. I don’t think that the problems of the world can be solved by a bunch of teenagers and college students with purple hair... nobody with any power to bring about change is going to take them seriously. I think the real free dom will occur when people stop paying attention to how fucked up the world is and start paying attention to how shitty they are treating each other. The definition of World Peace is for everybody to stop being assholes. I’m going to start right now wit h myself.

It is also evident that they see problems within our own scene that can be solved by using the same methods.

Do you think that there should be a gap between the "punk" and the "hardcore" scenes like the one that has developed?

Punk and hardcore have been separate since hardcore shot off from punk all those years ago. Hardcore kids can’t appreciate their roots, and punk kids are too snobby. Once again, a problem that can be solved by people not being ass holes. Anyway, I find it refreshing when I see a show that consists of bands with different styles. I can’t take more than three chugga-chugga bands in a night, it’s just too fucking loud and monotonous. I don’t care how good you are, the shit gets dul l. The same goes for punk. People should learn to appreciate creativity in all of its forms.

But when it comes down to it they really care about the meaning that their music gives others.

If you could be known by everyone for one thing, what would it be?

I would like people to remember us in an emotional way, like how they felt when they first heard us. I would like people to feel that way whenever they think of us, rather than what we look like or how they fucked their ankle durin g one of our shows.

The group plans to release something soon and hopefully we will give them a minute of consideration because even if you don’t like the music it doesn’t mean that you can’t like the people and what they have to say. In closing, Dissolve leaves us with these final remarks:

Don’t ever set yourself up as something more than you are... it’s embarassing for yourself and annoying to everyone else. When you have a job interview, give them a firm handshake and look the man straight in the eye. Brush your teeth and keep your body clean to ward off germs and of course, never kiss on a first date. Thank you.

DISSOLVE@aol.com