TftH: Hey, for those readers who are not aware of who you are, give us a brief description of what HTT? was.Kevin: Holier Than Thou? was a group of Goleta/Santa Barbara kids ranging in age from 16 through 35 years old over the span of the band's life. We started out playing around with multiple styles including east coast hardcore and posicore, but as we practiced more and more, we found that, as a group, we really clicked playing the mid-eighties crossover style. Taking hints from bands such as: Corrosion of Conformity, Beyond Possession, Suicidal Tendencies and Rich Kids on LSD, in addition to countless others along those same lines. We formed in the spring of 1999 (I think) as a four-piece and then called it quits in summer of 2005 as a five-piece. Though that is a long time in punk rock terms, we only managed to put out a handful of LP's (one still in the works to be released soon), a couple of 7" EP's, some songs on a few comps and toured the USA only once and Europe twice. I guess our true blueprint was skateboarding and crossover. Honestly, we only formed to kill time in the beginning, so it was kind of a shock to us that we did as much as we did I guess.
TftH: haha, well that's cool as some bands who start out trying to do something never get to, yet you guys were just trying to kill time and actually got stuff done. Out of the records y'all have put out (full-length & EPs), which were you most pleased with the results?
Kevin: Yeah, it was fun to do all that we did given we had zero expectations. I wouldn't trade the experiences I had with HTT? for anything! As far as the records we've put out goes, I personally like all of them. Although, there are things about the recordings that I would change if given the chance. I am biased though, so what the hell do I know? Word on the street is that our first LP, "The Hating of the Guts," is hands-down the best. Haha, the guys in Amsterdam hated our second LP because we were "too metal" on that one. A lot of people elsewhere said that they really liked it though. Those Dutch guys are way too picky, haha!
TftH: Rad, and speaking of the Dutch, what tours have y'all done, and have y'all toured Europe? How were they?
show, got a place to stay, got plenty of beer and a snack in the morning before hitting the road for the next show. Things in the US on the otherKevin: Yeah, we have toured the US once and Europe twice. We all agree that touring Europe is way radder than the US because you get treated better over there. I am not saying that we didn't have a blast when we toured the US, but some things are just a little cooler over there. For example, we have always tried to play for
just enough cash to get from one place to the next, and over there, they always went out of their way to make sure we all got fed before the hand are a bit more hit and miss and we find ourselves lucky to get a place to stay let alone any other fringe benefits. The people we have met on all three tours have been cooler than shit for the most part. The major difference is that there are a lot of older people who stay down with the scene in Europe whereas over here, it is usually a younger crowd as the older folks have moved on with their lives and left the punk rock lifestyle behind. Touring the East Coast with Municipal Waste and Annihilation Time was insane though, haha. I wondered whether or not we would all survive that one...so much partying, haha.TftH: That sounds awesome. Well, out of the tours, what was your favorite area to play in the US? in Europe?
Kevin: My favorite in the was US was definitely Richmond, VA on New Year's Eve with Municipal Waste and Annihilation Time. Partying with the Waste in their home town on New Year's ruled!!! We went to a crazy party afterward where people were stage diving off the refrigerator and there was an orgy upstairs...fucking insane! There were a lot of cool ones though. Super Sabado Gigante was rad and playing with RKL in our hometown was bitchin' as well. As far as Europe goes, there were lots of cool shows, but I would have to say that I had the most fun in Poland. They gave me a three day birthday party which was never ending. I had to get out of the van and lay flat on my back every time we stopped on the way to the show in Prague the next night. Couldn't drink beer for a few days after that one, haha. Once again, there were a lot of cool ones there too! The K-Town Fest was also a stand out in my mind. Bike Wars and Punk Bands, it doesn't get much better than that! Crazy shit always seemed to be pulling us down in Europe the first time around. The second time was fairly mellow.
TftH: Sounds like you all had a hell of a time. So what made you all decide to play the style that you all had? Who were some of the band's main influences?Kevin: When we first started, it was kind of weird because Noel was not only very young, but he was one of my students at the time. He basically said "let's play some rockin' jams" knowing that I was a punk from generations before him and we had no real agenda. For a while we thought of doing something in the east coast style of bands like Minor Threat. We even had a tune which eventually got thrown out that we called "the minor threat song", if for no other reason that it sounded like minor threat and had no lyrics at the time. It's kind of funny, at our first show, we had to make set lists that didn't have the actual song titles because we didn't know them. There was "the metal song", "bing bing bing", the "minor threat song" and so on. DR hated us because we couldn't remember the names of the songs for months, haha. Anyway, we tried a lot of styles in the beginning actually: mosh down stuff, hardcore and many others, but once we did a song in the vein of crossover, we knew that was the direction we had to go because we really clicked with that sound. Also there were no bands that we knew of playing that style when we first got into it. As far as influences go, obviously RKL, as they were local heroes to us, Beyond Posession, COC, DRI, Suicidal Tendencies and all the bands like that from the mid-eighties.
TftH: Rad. So y'all have a new album coming out soon. When can we expect it? Will y'all be doing any shows to promote it?
Kevin: The new record is recorded and waiting for the artwork. Pushead told us, "it will be done when you finish recording". Since then we have gotten differing reasons on why we will be waiting longer and longer for the artwork. "I have to go to Japan", "I've been sick", and others. But, when you really think about it, hey, Pushead is doing the artwork on our final album, so who cares how long we have to wait?! haha. As far as promoting the record goes, that is totally up to Six Weeks and Mordam because we have called it quits as a band. Sorry!
TftH: What can we expect with this new record? How would you compare it to past releases?
Kevin: We are really pleased with the new recordings, but of course, we are biased, hahaha. I would say that the new shit is somewhere in between "The Hating..." and "High on BBQ",... so we kind of went back a bit to move forward. A lot of it is more technical on some aspects but it is straight 80's crossover for the most part. I'll just wait and let everyone else be the judge once it comes out. Maybe you can tell me how it is, haha.TftH: Word. That sounds good. And now that HTT?'s done, what are the plans for you and the rest of the guys?
Kevin: Yeah, it's been fun, but there will be plenty more projects coming from us collectively. Jeff is currently playing with Broken Needle and Mars. Noel is jamming with some fools up in the bay area. Jeff, Chris Flippin, Paul Rucker and I are trying to find time to start a new metal project. I am jammin' with some ex-stu's in SB. Graham is still rockin' hard with Annihilation Time. DR is busy trying to get a better education than he got with his Literature degree, so he might fade into the has-been pile. Who knows, maybe he will become one of the great minds of our time...but I doubt it, haha. We'll be around doing what we love for years to come.
TftH: Well I look forward to anything that y'all do in the future. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, and is there anything you'd like to say to those in the punk/hc/thrash scenes? Words of wisdom, selfless promotion, useless rambling?
Kevin: Useless ramblings would be more like it, but I'll save those for another day. Thanks to everyone who made Holier Than Thou? a worthwhile hobby for us. Check out our MySpace page or email us at whoisholier@aol.com. Oh yeah, Noel's new band is called Cropduster, so look for them in a town near you, haha.Thanks Bro! Cheers!
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There you have it. I hope y'all liked it. I'm still mad that I never got to see them live, but oh well. To anyone who got to see there last show at last year's SoCal Fest, I loathe you. haha. It's bands like this that are keeping this website's namesake alive. Also, they should still have some of their old records available for sale if you would like to pick some up. Just e-mail them at: whoisholier@aol.com.
Remember, we've got to thrash from the heart or die trying!
Peace,
J
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