London based JAILBAIT were fucking kicking ass band – bringing back good old 90s sound to the new young blood on the dancefloor in UK. Love them or hate them – they did not give a fuck. This short interview was done years back for my paper zine. I dont even remember

Q: Introduction: Who are you guys? Where you from and why have you decided to play in the band? Have you ever played in any other band before Jailbait?

J: We’re a group of individuals who wanted to play hardcore punk and try to play something slightly different to what was being played to us. We have all been in bands before apart from me. Stet was in This time around, Bobby is in Last Witness (the cream of UKHC at the time) as is our drummer Tailbee, who also drums in Your Creation. Mark was in some rubbish metal bands and that is about it. We got the band together because me and Mark wanted to cover Warzone and get some things off our chests.

Q: Our zine is only for people from East part of Europe,obviously and local kids who probably never ever heard about Jailbait? Can you try to describe your sound and where your inspiration is coming from? What kind of people are making you angry?

J: As a band we have a very wide range of influences; we listen to everything from hardcore to dub. I think its important to expose yourself to a lot of different music and see what people have to say for themselves. It’s hard to pinpoint bands who have influenced us, but I listen to lot of doom, like Saint vitus, Goatsnake; we basically try to combine hardcore attitude with groovy music. Lyrically, I think Stet draws influence from the same stuff we all do; frustration at injustice, self-loathing, and seeing the closest people to you have to suffer hardship. The world can be a very claustrophobic place; I think Jailbait is just a way of us escaping it.

Q: What do you think about present UK HC scene? Are the bands supporting each other or its more local based as anywhere else in the world? What are your favorite UK hc bands now? Clearly the UK scene is living golden age as there are tones of bands and UK line up will sell out Underworld easily in London. What do you think?

J: Like anything that’s worth having, it takes a lot of people, a lot of work and a lot of dedication. I was 10 years old when labels like Rucktion first began; it has taken a lot of work for UKHC to get where it is now. it’s testament to the bands who have been playing for years that there is so much good music coming from the UK at the moment. Bands like Knuckledust, Ninebar, Injury Time, and more recently Last Witness, Get Fucking Dead and Honour Among Thieves continue to be sources of inspiration for us.

Q: London is a full of CCTV cameras, well, living here is getting me sometime pretty paranoid, being more conscious what I am doing and where I am doing it, haha…what do you think about your Big Brother? Do you feel safer big brother watching you?

J: I couldn’t speak for us all, but personally I think the intrusive element to the government of the UK becomes more prominent as times goes on. It’s the purpose of this government to make people feel endangered; it justifies an enormous amount of money being spent on ‘terrorism’. Terrorism in this country is no more than something for the government to claim they are combating. Most people would rather have a government which is entirely inefficient than have to look after themselves. I think most people walk around afraid of who’s walking next to them.

Q: Are there any interesting bands from Europe you are enjoy playing with? When I was getting into the scene in the mid 90s I did not know any UK bands. None were coming to Europe or when they were not really further to East part of it.
Very likely you guys in UK have tones of american hardcore bands and own UK hardcore bands, few German or Dutch bands coming over so that will kind of satisfy your appetite, but I have never heard UK bands playing and touring the rest of the Europe much – well maybe just the old farts like UK Subs and Vibrators hehe ..even today there are not too many UK bands trying to play shows far more East. Is it the money? Unknown territory scare?

J: I think this is more due to people’s laziness than lack of opportunity. Though bands like Knuckledust, Six Ft Ditch, Dirty Money and soon Honour Among Thieves have all played European dates though I think they tend to be more focused on France and Germany. Maybe it’s because the scene there is more easily accessible through myspace and media like that. I think it would be true to say that most of us feel that it’s too expensive and that there is far too much of a risk factor involved.

Q: Actually Honour among thieves has Czech girl playing for them so yeah the contacts might make it much easier to book shows on that part of the world.
What is making you angry in your daily life apart of your boss at work? What is putting you back into your comfort zone?

J: We play in Jailbait.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration from? Forget about bands in this question and try to tell me what or who is the infinitive inspiration to you?

J: I`m inspired by the things I see which I hate; though I am probably more inspired by my lack of willingness to do anything about it. In terms of social or political figures, I haven’t come across anyone who has inspired me in that sense. Though my mother and father inspire me everyday.

Q: What is your feelings about to be part of this scene/group/subculture? Isn’t it just all pretending to look tough and have fun with few of your friends? Is this the purpose of it? Dont you thing that hardcore should be something more than fun at the shows?

J: I still think that real hardcore in this country represents a subculture; there are elements which are corporate, though I think most musical genres are guilty of that in one way or another. There is still a lot of political hardcore which comes from the UK, though to be fair many of the best (Crass, Discharge, Cocksparrer) had their best moments way before I was born. Hardcore in this country is saturated by a lot of bands reiterating tired ideas about how great friends, family and being loyal are. Not only is it tired rhetoric, it’s something very few people who have it on their myspace’s could claim to really believe. In terms of the more political bands though, I think they are normally accompanied by morals outside of politics, like veganism, straight edge or Christianity. Of course, it’s a generalization; personally, I find people daily struggle more honest subject matter than politics.

Q: Good point make. I dont see hardcore scene in London very politically or socially active, you cant really see those folks/kids marching against war in Iraq in Trafalgar square etc. Dont you thing that this hardcore scene is just a little brother of POP world? You can go and buy Ramones, Misfits and Black Flag t shirts on High street?! To see the spoiled kids kicking ass and punching each other on the shows for fun make me think twice do I want to be part of this shit which dont have any meaning?! Nothing just another disco with different sound in the background and different dance expression?

J: Hardcore is an aggressive type of music for a certain type of person; in this respect I don’t see it as commercially viable in the same way that mainstream music is. Naturally, there will be bands whose motives are not as noble, but as far as we are concerned, hardcore is for the few.

Q: Your top five or the worst five/ten of hardcore punk scene?

J: Cant answer this dude. Too hard.

Q: Imagine that you are fucking angry about your government, you open the window there are thousands of people watching you and the cunts you are angry most about and you would have the opportunity to shout anything you want: what would you shout?!

J:’Does anyone have a lighter?’

Q: your favorite records and bands?

J: Warzone – fuck your attitude
Ringworm – house of hell
Slapshot – crossover sucks

Q: Jailbait- why? What does it mean?

J: Jailbait was something (apparently) which I came up with, though I reckon it was our old singer, Saggs. Jailbait means under-age girls who look older than they are; if you get found out for getting involved with a minor you get incarcerated. Its about the young ladies we all see thinking they know it all, when really they haven’t got a clue. We know who you are.

Q: Whats your job? Do you study? What do you study? Do you guys have any idea what you would like to do for living?

J: It varies; Stet is an electrician, Mark works in the city, Bobby is a vagrant, and Tailbee and I are both students. He studies music technology and I study history. I think it would be fair to say that our reasons for going to university extend no further than wanting to put off the impending doom of real working life where you hate waking up in the morning.

Q: The other guy from the zine is asking me to ask you what do you thing about myspace? I dont know … myspace is pretty cool so tell me why there are still people who hates it? (fuck, imagine our life will be fucked soon by facebook haha. I would still prefer myspace now for the coding possibility, but they fucked it big time haha)

J: Myspace has its advantages in terms of it being a massive database for hearing new music; on that level, we all support it and it is very useful. As a band, it also provides a platform for letting people know about your band and what you do. Of course, there are people who use myspace as a tool for status. Fortunately, we have no interest in people like that.

Q: What are you plans for the nearest future?

J: We will be recording again soon, and hopefully playing Europe at some point next year. We’ll have to see what happens though; there’s nothing worse than 5 Englishmen saying stuff about your mum and ruining your night.

Q: What about your family life!? Do they know that you are playing in a band and if yes what do they think about the band? Are they supporting your life or just dont care what their sons are doing? What do you think what is the hardest thing in relationships?

J: All our families know we’re in Jailbait; i’m sure none of them really care as they almost certainly have more pressing issues at hand. It’s just a hobby for us; you have to pay rent and playing in Jailbait won’t do that. Playing in Jailbait won’t pay for the train journey to the venue.

Q: Some of you guys have tattooed sleeves on both hands. Have you had any issues because of your tattoos to get a job or similar shit? Especially in Eastern part a lot of people still think that only people with criminal background are getting tattooed as it is in Japan where people who got tattoos are not allowed to get to restaurants etc. What your parents think about being heavily tattooed? What are your favorite designs?

J: Tattooing in this country is now far more widely seen than it was 10 or so years ago I believe. I don’t think tattoos in this country are out of the ordinary anymore, though to be fair if you’re getting tattooed to be extraordinary, you’re probably a dick anyway. I got all of my tattoos in Frith Street in London, though S.D.C Ink is worth looking into as well.

Q: What do you think about the recent War in Iraq? Are you interesting about what is going on in UK or worldwide politics? What do you think about going to vote? Is it worth to go to vote?

J: Whilst we don’t discuss issues like Iraq explicitly in our songs, the themes of war, global terror, the politics of fear and other intelligent sounding generalizations come into our music through stet’s lyrics. Individually, I think we all feel separate to each other when it comes to world issues like that. We all share a sense of impending doom though.

Q: Is anybody from the band straight edge? Do people take piss of straight edge kids considering the high alcohol consumption here?

J: No one in Jailbait drinks; some of us are straight edge, some of us aren’t, none of us care. There’ll always be scum walking the streets no matter if you’re here or anywhere, most of them are pissed or on crack. As a band I can conclusively say that people like that piss us off.

Q: How would in your mind look the traditional English man?

J: Must be racist, homophobic, loyalist, sexist, xenophobic, conservative, shit in bed, have bad breath, read The Sun, and listen to Saxon.

Q: You nailed it haha. Good joke. Thank you.