Power is poison (from Schizo Fanzine 6)
Power is Poison - Jobby
1. What do you think of the fucking extreme right wing winds that have hit Europe?
Its a nightmare in the making.It's been creeping up on us for the last decade and it seems it is almost with us.Have we learned from History? no we have not.The new right wing has reinvented it's self to look respectable .Suits and ties but if you are listening closely you will hear the same old racist rethoric spewing forth from in between the lines.
2. Are you political active in some way?
If you mean active then yes i am in some manner.I will admit i am not as active as i used to be to health reasons I am mostly active with anti fascist groups.Helping promote anti fascism in the current climate is beginning to be a bit of a dangerous thing to do.While the media bend over backwards to accommodate the likes of Geert Wilder's and Britain's Nick Griffin to talk hate under the disguise of freedom of speech anti fascists in Holland are getting a rough time in the press.Something stinks and i do not like it.
3. Please list the 3 best active bands, and tell me why like them so much?
OI POLLOI because they have never stopped doing what they do.They have stuck to their roots for more that 25 years now.Still playing squats small venues and releasing records in a D.I.Y way.
BURNT CROSS have been a favorite of mine ever since i went to their myspace page 3 years ago.Although this bad dose not tour or do many gigs they are active releasing records and spreading a worthwhile message and i just love that they do it all at home in the bedroom. D.I.Y to the core in my opinion.
GLOBAL PARASITE are a newish band from Wales who are impressing me a lot with their new album and the gigs they do are great.Again this band have got something to say and are not afraid to say it as are the Dead Subverts who are making me pogo evertime i hear them.
4. Well, over to power Is poison for a while. Who are the members in the band? And how would you describe your music?
At the Moment i write POWER IS POISON are just my self Jobby on guitar and Rene Riot on vocals .A new drummer and bass player are being tried out very soon.
I would describe our music as punk.I would say we are influenced by the 80's anarcho punk movement but sound more like CHAOS UK style punk with a little tint of 90's crust throw in to piss the "purists" off.
5. Can you give a small scene report from where you live?
We live in Den Haag(The Hague) which is Holland.Its a very small town but still has a few squats that do gigs/shows.I mostly go to a place called the Pirata Bar as thats where most of the punk gigs go on.It also has a Vegan cafe band practice space and workshops for artists and theater groups.The squat i also live in does much the same but not as many punk gigs as i live with a lot of electro/tekno lovers.Theres also a few more bands formed recently and there is a busy antifa in our town.There is also an anarchist library thats worth a visit which also has a little cafe.There used to be a lot more but since they have been persecuting squatters a lot of squats have closed down.
6. What have you released so far and tell me about the response?
On vinyl we have released 4 split 7'' with the bands SCATLOVER G.B.O/CHICKENS CALL and TOTALICKERS. We also put out a 7' EP' all to ourselves called If not us ...who If not now when? which was nice and we had a track on the six ways to fuck shit up comp.We also put up an Internet download EP via the moshpit tragedy label from Canada.The response has been really good most of the reviews we have for the records have been good Still got a box of them under my bed though.
7. What do you think about the DIY-scene of today?
Its got really strong i think the .We never have much problem booking D.I.Y tours.And its good to see so many people involved.Lots of new enthusiastic punks are working hard with it.
8. You (Jobby) have a fanzine as well (If I have understand it right) Here you have the chance to promote it. Write all you want about the zine...
Well to be honest i am not doing the Zine too much any more.It was just a project for Myspace but since no one uses it any more i dont do much with it theses days. I was gonna ask if i can write reviews for this Zine in the future.
9. And while we talk about fanzines. What do you think about the zine-scene? Personally can I say that all blogs have destroyed all the good old papers-zines, what's your opinion?
I have mixed feelings on this one.I love the Zine just the concept of it is great that some punk somewhere took the time to contact bands /people to do interviews go to the print shop and copy them themselves a lot of effort goes into theses Zines we sometimes pick up for free at gigs.I love getting home and emptying my pockets and having a good read of what i picked up but you just don't get as many theses days as a lot of people moved on to internet Zines/blogs which i do like.The advantage of them is they are automatically available and can get out to more readers easily.The internet has helped Power is poison lots.Without it i doubt we would be doing this interview.But you cant beat the real thing.
10. All tourists think that Holland is a very liberal country, what is the truth and what about drugs, is it legal? There are places in Holland who are really beautiful, but if you scratch the surface, what will you find, is there any welfare? And how is the situation for the people?
Holland is not a liberal country any more far from it. Drugs have never been "legal" in Holland they just don't enforce the laws where cannabis is concerned.You can still go to jail for growing it and selling it on the street although hard drugs are unfortunately easy to get they are still illegal but they will send you to rehab first before Jail if you have problems with them..The welfare system is based around what you put into it you get back but at the moment with the newly elected government things are changing in a negative way.they are making cuts to all benefits..even disability s benefits are getting slashed.
11. Ok, back to Power is poison. Have the sound change anything after you switched members?
Nah i don't think so I write all the music so it sorta stays the same. I mean we are a D.I.Y band and we even record our own shit without really knowing what we are doing so the overall "sound" of our records are different form each other but i think the style of songs are the same.When we started everyone just labeled us a crust band because they saw dredlocks then a few people says we had turned punk.Well if they had listened they would have know we never turned punk because we were punk all along.Too many people judge by what they see and not what they hear.We play fast we play punk.
12. What is the plans for 2011?
It will be a quiet year for us as we have been really busy the last 5 years a discography CD will be release early 20011 via pumpkin records and we will spend a most of our time as band in the recording studio as we are hopefully gonna make an album for release late 2011 then tour to promote it in 2012.We wont be touring(sorry) but might do a few local gigs to try out new songs live.
13. What do you prefer to drink when you're gonna get wasted? And what is the most common drinks at punk shows and partys?
I don't drink any more due to health reasons but when i did i was into beer mostly anything else's just made me puke.In Holland beer is the most common thing you will see at punk gigs..its cheap ..very cheap from the supermarket and as most squat venues allow you take your own thats what most people drink.You find a bottle of vodka/whiskey floating about though.Also legally we can't sell hard liquor in squats.We get shut down if we do.But beer is ok.So its beer beer beer.
14. Mention some bands that you would go on a tour with, and don't forget why?
Burnt Cross because i have never met them in real life we are just internet buddy's and i would just love to hear their songs live.We have done a few gigs with Global Parasite and the Dead Subverts but not a tour but i would love to as both bands have great attitudes great songs and are up for a bit of fun.
15. Well, it's time to end this. If there is somehing you wanna add, feel free to do it or if you have any question for me is it just to ask.
Thanx to you for the interview and eveyone who has helped us along the way. A big fuck off to the cunts who are selling our MPS online without even asking us. Any one who wants Power is Poison MP3 can get them at this site. http://moshpittragedy.com/main.php
