OBM: Hey, thanks for your time today, how are you doing?
Im fine, thanx alot We’re  busy with alot of stuff at once

OBM: "Miles & Memories" is a  great return to come back with. Care to plug it a
bit? Whats the meaning of the title?
Cindy came up with the title.  It’s a summary of the period between our first full album and this one. We experienced stuff we never dreamed of doing. 

OBM: Okay, can you tell us what inspired some of the songs and the lyrics on the album? How much does personal experience enter into your writing process?
We wrote a big part of this album while traveling to shows . Alot of things that happened to us  ( good and bad ) are the inspiration to songs. We always write from a personal perspective.  I guess we rarely  say stuff directly and most of the time our lyrics deal with multiple things in one
song. But we try to write so that people can reflect and maybe have affection with them.

OBM: What would you say was the general theme or feel behind "Miles & Memories",
if there is one at all?
Good question: I guess the "general" feel is: follow your heart. Don't let nothing stop you in achieving what you want to achieve. Big or small. Every individual has dreams and every individual has a talent and potential  he or she can use to full fill their dreams. Our dreams concerning  All For Nothing are quite moderate: We want to record and play songs  that we like. Meet new people on the road and most of all: have fun.

OBM: How is the new album, Miles & Memories, going down with the fans?
It's going down pretty good. People seem to like it. We see people sing along to the lyrics and that is always a great compliment.

OBM: What did you want to achieve with it?
Making a record that we as a band liked. Getting some things of our chest and see if we could get ourselves to a next level as musicians.

OBM: After the success of Can'T Kill What's Inside, did you feel under any pressure with the album? No not really. we have talked about that alot  while we recorded Miles & Memories. I mean for a debut album CKWI was recieved very well. There is always a chance that reviewers hate your new stuff. Or that "fans" ( by lack of a better word ) don’t like your stuff anymore but  we just did what we do best: make music that we like. If 100 people like it: cool: if 10.000 people like it: cool too. If nobody likes it: we’ll there is not much we can do about it hahaha.  This is us: love it or hate it. OBM: I know All For Nothing isn't full time, what do you guys have to do away from the band to pay the bills? Would you like if all hardcore bands could make a living out of it, or are you happy with it as it is? We do various things to pay bills. We all  have steady jobs or go to school. The

question if we would choose for the band as a fulltime job if the chance was there is a hard one to awnser. Right now it's an outlet to us. We sacrifice ( almost ) everything to make this band happen but are limited to time and our jobs. A hardcore band as fulltime job: I don’t know man. I don't know if hardcore is the best genre to do so.  If we talk about a professional career: If feel you limit yourself to a certain degree when you play hardcore. Without putting it down,  I mean this is the style we fell in love with haha but Iguess there are better genres to be a professional musician in. If you decided to play music pure for money. Maybe being a professional in hardcore takes away the spirit. You know if this becomes your job, what is your outlet gonna be?

OBM: Do you think the hardcore scene has become watered down, not what it was? A
place where style is more important than the music!
(…this questions was a big issue for me to answer. I tricked my mind into asking myself the question over and over and it took a great while to answer…)

This  is a subject that I think off a lot.. but I can't seem to get it straight for myself

Ill try because I think it's a good subject to talk about. which I often do so here are some thoughts, I cause that is the best I can do as an answer.

Hope it is any good:

I'm very aware of the fact that a lot of people think that camouflage pants , (neck) tattoos and 20.000 songs on a iPod are The way that be important  in hardcore. Is that correct? I don't know. I got in to hardcore understanding the scene was sort of "rule" free.  How ever: I found out along the way that alot people in hardcore love living by rules, trends and big talk. I had discussions with crustpunx that wore  anarchy signs on a leather jackets drinking Heineken beer  but accused me of asking to much money for a show.  I had endless encounters with Edge kids that  think ( or thought) that they are bigger than the world because of 4 black marker stripes on
their hands.  I knew these people for years and when they turned "edge"  Isuddenly wasn’t cool anymore because I happen to enjoy a beer every once and a while. We were not on the same level anymore and they formed this elite group of edge kids that for the majority ( in my eyes) of it are nothing but weak personalities ( in the opposite of the "strong" image edge kids tent to give themselves). Cause 10 years down the line, when they finally met a girl/boy that likes them and is not into hardcore, the "true till death" slogans, revelation test pressings and X swatches are traded in for  Beer drinking holidays, internet big talk about which girl they fucked last weekend and general macho behavior they once stood ( or at least thought ) they stood against.  You see them fucked  on booze at shows and that is the point where I think: God you are such an incredible idiot. Right now you are literally the reason why straight edge was started.  That is the point where I think:

Hardcore is watered down: It's not the Tattoo's or the camouflage pants that are causing it, it's the mental state of people, the filthy urge to be important( : you got to have the most records or the biggest messageboard posting history) and the easiness with which people drop hardcore when it
doesn’t fit them anymore. Once those temporary things lose their value to a bigger crowd, those individuals have to get their attentions somewhere else: they go clubbing, turn into indie rock or what ever. There is nothing wrong with it. But 9 out of 10 times they "drop" hardcore  and state that they can't affiliate with it anymore. To me personally that is prove that I still care about it. Hardcore hasn't watered down to me.

Sometimes I think  the general interest of kids / people in the scene is just evolved. Once something starts it's always in it's purest form. When people get involved it shifts. I don't really think it has watered down that much. But with all the possibilities nowadays  It just looks that way. Next to bands that are simple in hardcore for "fun" other bands still speak up about subjects that are rooted in hardcore.  The internet has major influence: When I first started to go the shows ( and please note: I don’t want to sound like all was better in my "old" days , I just want to make an example) I would pick up a whole bunch of flyers on subject like animal treatment, fascism  etc. Kids nowadays log on to (e.g) peta2.com and find more info inone click then you can ever assemble at one show. On one hand that takes away the charm a little, on  the other hand: people that want  ( or need ) to be educated have good options here.  I guess it used to be more of a
social thing and it turned a little more individualistic ( just like "normal" society)

life, social injustice etc. I mean read John Josephs book: that is a tuff upbringing.  Maybe the same goes for Harley Flanagan. Put those two together at a certain time and place and you get a sort of music style in one band that is unique.

( note: Sometimes I see bands that try to copy that old sound/feeling.  Only a few can do it right. And more than often they are ridiculed by a vast majority of people that don’t see the realness of it as stupid or  not worthy. Wearing old school vans and playing old Marshall plexi amps doesn’t make your band old school or hardcore or what ever. When your purchased those items with the Idea you are going to be like that, for me, makes your whole band irrelevant on that point.

I have the same problem with punk: It's become a uniform actually in my eyes it always was as the sex pistols where put together by one person in a clothing shop.

Put two  15 year old kids from a suburb in Holland together  next week and you'll get a totally different outlet. Not necessarily better or worse, just different.  To me the way they handle their stuff is what makes them hardcore ( or not ), not the precise style they play of the way the look.
People seem to forget that kids today have different subjects to write about.  Also we must not forget that we're 30 years into hardcore now. It would be stupid to think that it wouldn’t  evolve: Studio's are perhaps sounding better,  tours are easier to book with internet,  getting band

merchandise is easier and don’t forget music:  you check out bands from the other side of the world by just one click. These possibilities  might take away the edge and feeling away on a lot of people, but I definitely see a lot of advantages in this evolution.

Like I said: I think hardcore has shifted. (based upon my own experiences and the stuff I picked up from talking to older dudes)

Is this bad?: I Can't really decide. For me personally: As long as I see bands  speak out about stuff that is well addressed in punk/hardcore, I can handle and appreciate “fun” bands a little better. In other words: its slightly balanced.

The only thing that personally bothers me sometimes it that people show no love or interest in the old bands. I think to my self; If this is what you love: You got internet: instead of downloading the latest Terror CD, get your hands on some info about the 80’s and 90’s stuff. Then go to a Terror
show, buy the new CD and share your knowledge and views with people at a SHOW. That's where it happens. That is what keeps it alive.

Again: it's  a difficult subject to me: I hope this gives a good view on how
I think.

(…Personal note: If anybody want  to have a talk about this: don't hesitate to talk to me on a show: I love to discuss about this. ..)

OBM: When you were growing up, which bands really motivated you to start up a band yourselves, or continue to do so?
To me personally hardcore/punk wise: Bane, Gorilla biscuits, Cro mags, Descendents,  Minor Threat  Dead Kennedys. My parents are big music lovers especially my dad. He let me listen  to the Beatles, Rolling Stones and one of my all time favorite: Frank Zappa. At that time I couldn’t really appreciate it, but 15 years down I'm thankful he did cause damn: he has got a lot of good stuff in his collection.

OBM: Is your heart in touring more than recording?
Both have their good and bad things. I like em equally.

, 40+ year old dykes fighting each other, being pulled over by the police more than once. Hearing people talk shit about us in German while they didn't realize that the people we are with are German so we could understand them, arriving 02:00 in the night due to an accident and still playing a pretty cool show. Visiting great cities. It never ends.

OBM: So what touring is planned for the rest of 2009 and what are your goals for 2010?
In 2010 we want to visit as many countries as we can. Do shows in places where we’ve never been before.  We have some festival shows this year and we
hope to tour Europe again.

OBM: What are your top five albums this year?
I never make lists. But here are some favs.: Mastodon/ Sunn O / Bane / No Turning Back /  Maximum Penalty/ Cruel Hand/ Reign Supreme

OBM: Thanks for your time and good luck with the album. Anything else to say?
Thank you for the interview: The offer for coffee and some good road stories
is always up: for any body that attends our shows, come and hang out we love
to meet new people. Always.

Keep it cool

ernst