October Bikes Part One

It is really a small world. Andrew and my wife met walking dogs in the morning and somehow bikes came up. Not too long after that, we stumbled on the youth crew/anthrax connection. Not too long after that he dropped that he had played drums for Wishful Thinking(arguably the best of the Western Mass Community Chest releases....but good luck finding someone to argue with about this. Any G-Man fans out there?). Not only that, he was the kid on the cover! He makes some nice ti and carbon ti frames. Road, Cross, MTB, whatever you want. He started building for Dean in CO and then moved back East.
Anyway he was dowh to answer some questions, so read on and check him out here. More Bike Questions and photos for part two!

1.How did you get into music? How did you get into hardcore?
I started playing drums probably when I was around 8 or 9. I used to make the biggest set I could from boxes and whatever else I could find around. I made full-on erector set hi-hats and bass drum pedals...I guess that was one of the early starts to engineering as well. Anyway, for some reason, music was a big part of my life from early on. My folks really enjoyed music and had it playing all the time at home. I think the aggressiveness, and passion of hardcore music is what got me hooked. The raw emotion and energy, as well as the speed of it just resonated with me. Which in some ways is very strange since I'm pretty much an introvert. Then I really got into the straight edge stuff and that was just amazing. Here were these kids, agree or not, living in a positive way staying away from drugs, etc. Was cool to feel a sense of community and that the music (and the scene) had your back if you needed an army against the peer pressure.
2.Favorite show? Best show at the Anthrax?
Man, it's a tough one to pick a favorite. As for hardcore, probable a Youth of Today, Judge, and Bold show...it also happened to be at the Anthrax. Another memorable one was Absolution at the Anthrax...they opened, then another band played (Hogan's Hero's I think) then Absolution came on again! Was pretty sick. Other notables in varied genres were an early Rage Against the Machine show, Sunny Day Real Estate at the UMASS Student Union, any of the 8 times I've seen Tool, Earth Crisis at Pearl Street....man, I could go on and on..
3.How did you end up in Wishful Thinking?
I met the Wishful Thinking guys through mutual skateboarding friends. Their current drummer was getting into county music or something, so they needed someone new. Unfortunately for me, they already recorded the 7", but fortunately, I got to play the shows!
4.What was the best show you played with them?
Probably at UCONN, we opened for 24-7 Spyz.
5.Fondest youth crew memories?
Just skating, listening to music, heading up to Main Street Records. Western Mass had a pretty good hardcore scene. I mean, we had a ton of fun, plenty of shows came through, or weren't too hard to get to. I am grateful that my parents tolerated all this stuff and trusted that I was hanging out with a good group of friends.

6.Top Ten hardcore classics?
Only ten? I guess these were probably my fav's back in the day:
Break Down the Walls - Youth of Today
I Against I - Bad Brains
Destroy the Machines - Earth Crisis (is that considered a classic?)
Beyond - Demo
Speak Out - Bold
Insted's album
Chain of Strength - True til Death
7 Seconds - Walk Together, Rock Together
Minor Threat - Out of Step
Brotherhood - Demo

7.Where you into bikes or skateboarding or anything back then?
Totally into Skateboarding. I had a BMX bike as a kid, but skateboarding, then snowboarding was where it was at. I just realized - this will be my 22nd year snowboarding! I've missed a couple seasons in there, but yeah, been riding regularly for a long time. I also still break out the skateboard now and again...

8..Did you get into road or MTB first?
I got heavy into mountain biking about '92 or so. I just was so stoked on it! Then I got into some beginner racing, and found I was only riding my mountain bike in the races - the rest of the time, I was out on the road. So I became a shaved-leg roadie! Now, I pretty much do it all, except I don't do any of it all that much! Seems like once you start building bikes, you stop riding them....

Part Two of this interview will be along shortly. That will cover more of the bike-life rather than the core.

As a side note the Rise to Surprise 7" is a 9 song rager. More trad HC with a Cali (UC) or DC(Faith maybe) feel than the CT posi-core that the cover hints at. It reminds me of the bands that were on the Open Your Eyes tape series(if anyone remembers that) Get it if you can-especially on orange wax?
"Time Out" and "Inside Out"are my favorite tracks. Inside Out has a real NYHC feel (Side by Side?) Youth Crew forever!!