Interviews

Sick Of It All (official)

Interview with Pete & Armand on Nov 30, 1999 by Archive Bot

Thanks to Melanie Kaye at Fat Wreck Canada for setting this up and always being so cool. Sick of it All’s Pete (guitar and vocals) and Armand (drums) were nice and sat down with me to answer a few questions before their set June 27th in Montreal at the Rainbow. Pictures from sickofitall.com. 

PB: Do you guys prefer now, or did you like it better in 1987?
Armand: That’s a hard question because it’s so different now than it was back then, so I can’t really say which one I prefer. Everything is different now so you can’t even compare, the whole scene is different, the kids are different.

PB: How is the scene different?
Armand: The New York hardcore scene is different. It’s a lot bigger. And, well now a lot of kids go to shows for different reasons. Back then everyone would go to CBGB’s no matter what show was there and it didn’t matter if they’d even heard of the band before. Now there are the ska shows, the punk shows, the hardcore shows. Before everyone just went to listen to music no matter what kind it was. It was a smaller community where everyone just came out and supported one another.

PB: You’ve been on Fat Wreck for a few years now. Are you guys happy with the audience that Fat has attracted for you?
Pete: Yeah, of course.
Armand: I think we’re just happy that kids are listening to our stuff and buying our records and coming out to shows. But there are those kids that will come to our shows, but who just won’t buy the newer albums that are on Fat.

PB: Why won’t they buy them?
Armand: I guess they just think that it’s not as cool to have the newer albums as it is to have the older ones, the ones before a certain time. And that is in a way stupid because I think a lot of our newer stuff is way better than the older stuff.
Pete: Yeah, I really think that our newer stuff is great and that those kids who won’t buy them are just missing out.

PB: Well that makes no sense because they’re going to come to your shows where you’ll play the newer stuff and hardcore dance or whatever they do to those songs..... anyways so why not be open minded and get the new album and listen to it? Oh.how do you guys decide what songs you play every night, just cause you do have so many albums and so many songs and stuff?
Armand: A lot of what we pick has to do with the energy of the crowd and our energy that night. There are a lot of songs that just don’t get as good of a reaction from the crowd but we play them because we like playing them. But sometimes it gets to the point where we just have to stop playing those ones live because they just don’t get the reaction and energy from the kids that we like to get. It’s like beating a dead horse and it sucks because we like playing them but we feed off the energy of the crowd and if it’s just not there.. 

PB: Well I guess also because part of the reason you play live is for that reaction.
Pete: Right.

PB: And are you guys coming out with a best of album?
Pete: In a way, it’s a live album. Fat is doing a series with it's bands called "Live in a Dive" and so we’re the next band doing it.

PB: Oh right, who did the last one?
Armand: Bracket did one and I think No Use for a Name.

PB: Yeah, No Use for a Name, that was it.
Armand: It’s kind of like a best of in the sense that there will be the older songs for those kids who only know our newer stuff and then the newer songs for those kids that won’t buy the new albums.

PB: How have you guys managed to maintain such a steady line up for so long?
Pete: Well my brother is in the band.

PB: Aw, that was my next question.
Armand: I think part of the reason is because we were all friends before we were in the band.

PB: Ok so what is it like being in a band with your brother?
Pete: It’s fine. Now, it’s like we’re all family. I’ve known these guys for so long. We rarely argue and if we do it’s never anything really big.

PB: And if it is, you just deal right? Cause you are like family.
Pete: Exactly, you can’t just say, we’re fighting about this and I don’t want to be in the band with you anymore.

PB: Yeah it’s a really cool thing because, there are so, so many bands now, in fact most bands now don’t ever have an original line up or something even close.
Armand: Yeah and that might also have to do with the way a lot of bands are formed now.

PB: Ok so where do you guys prefer playing the Opera House or Club Shanghai? Lou: I don’t think we played at Club Shanghai. Did we?

PB: Yeah, you did.
Armand: Oh! That’s the place that’s upstairs yeah, no I remember. That was a great, great show. That place is great. I still like the Opera House though. It’s the perfect venue for a hardcore show. It’s the perfect size and the stage is the greatest height. Lou: And there aren’t any barriers!
Armand: And the front of the stage is rounded. Lou: And there is that second floor so that if your parents or wife wants to come to the show they can sit up there.

PB: Do you think that there is less violence at shows now? Lou: Yeah.
Armand: Yeah. Lou: Yeah, it’s not as bad as the early 90’s. It was pretty bad back then, kids are better about that now. 

PB: Was there any way at all that you thought you’d be where you are now 15 years ago?
Armand: Not at all, this band started out as a hobby for us and now it’s our life. It’s what we do, it’s everything we do. And we are so fortunate. We get to tour and do this every day.

PB: Yeah you guys are lucky.
Armand: We are, I mean, we have had to give up certain things but I think that that is also part of the reason we’re still around today. Also because we didn’t think about it, we just let it happen. I know a lot of bands that thought about it, thought where they might be and those are the guys who went back to school and then got those 9 to 5 jobs. And now they’re sitting at their desks hating it. I didn’t think about it because maybe if I had it would have been different.

PB: You’ve got a ring. You’re married right?
Armand: Yeah and I have 2 kids.

PB: You’re married too?
Pete: Yeah.

PB: How do you guys maintain your marriages being on tour constantly?
Armand: Well I met my wife when I was already in the band so she knew that this was the life that I was going to lead and it was what she was getting into. We talk everyday though.
Pete: Yeah, just wait until I get my cell phone bill after this tour is over. Our wives understand that this is our dream that we are living and they support us, they’re our biggest supporters.

PB: Well yeah I guess if you can’t be with someone who understands this whole thing and wouldn’t want to support you in it, it’s not the right person.
Pete: Right. I wouldn’t want to take a dream away from anyone I love or care about.

PB: So what are some new bands that you guys like right now?
Armand: Uh, we don’t really listen to anything but......

PB: You’re not allowed to say No Warning or that other band that’s opening up tonight.
Armand: Heh, ok well there was a really good band that we played with in Ottawa?

PB: Ok.
Armand: Buried Inside. They were really good.
Pete: Yeah, they were good.

PB: Uh, do you guys wear the same clothes every night? *Laugh*
Armand: Yeah, we do.

PB: Every single night literally the same clothes, that same shirt you wear for the entire tour?
Armand: Pretty much. I wear a polyester shirt because it dries the fastest, but yeah we do. And at the end of the tour we have to like burn the clothes.
Pete: They retain all the sweat and it doesn’t matter how many times you wash them as soon as you put them on again and sweat it re-activates all the sweat that was soaked in there.

PB: Ew, that’s gross.
Pete: Ha. Ha. Well we throw them out at the end of the tour. It’s not like I wear anything different. I always wear black pants and a tank top like this, there is just a specific one that I use when we play because of that reason.