STATE OF DECAY interview

This is an interview with Harold, bass player for great
punk-metal band from Singapore: STATE OF DECAY.
They play sort of a metalized punk, Black Uniforms style
or mix of heavy/speed metal and hardcore punk.
Thanx Harold for the interview and also for sending some
recordings for the review.
Band's myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/stateofdecaysg

TAKEN: august 2008

=====================================

Hi, Harold and State of Decay!Thank you for acceptin
the offering to answer some questions.. well, let's start!

1. P: Tell a little bit about the histrory of a band - who and
when formed it?
H: We were formed sometime around early 2005, actually
Ariff, Irwan and Kody already had somewhat of a band
and I was looking for a band too so I kinda joined them..
haha its all good though, cause all of us were more or less
already close friends at that point in time and at least we
found it easy to work with each other.. or something
like that, haha!

2. P: Does any members of the bands have other projects?
H: ah yes, Kody plays in a shitload of other bands, mostly
as a drummer (Minus, Blinded Humanity) but also the
bassist for Slutet.. my other bands are all inactive, same
goes for Ariff, and there weren’t any recordings so it isn’t
worth it to mention them haha.

3. P: Are you independent band, or you're searchin for
some kind of label to release you stuff?
H: Hmm I guess we could be considered independent,
but Hasib from Azadghei Records has offered to help
press a pro CD for us so we took it up.. we’re good
friends as well, so I don’t know if that would be
considered a label? We don’t mind if people consider
us under Azadghei Records anyway because it doesn’t
really make much of a difference.. what matters if
whether they like the stuff we play or not, haha.

4. P: How much releases have you made on that moment
and, do you guys have a worldwide distribution?
H: Actually we only have 1 CD-r that only had like 25 pieces..
even the band members sadly do not own a copy.
There were supposed to have been more but it just didn’t
happen.. we just finished recording a few months back
and are gonna press it onto cd tho, all our recorded
tracks + the demo so its about 19tracks on 1 cd, hopefully
it’ll be done soon!and we’re definitely planning to record
and release more, hopefully even on vinyl but as all
the members of the band are more or less busy
(2 of us are doing national service so that cuts down
most of our spare time) it might take a while…

5. P: How's scene in Singapore, wht's popular there etc...
What's your opinion on modern bands playin 'metalcore'
and emo-core stuff?
H: ...sadly the scene here is very inactive as of late,
and I don’t really enjoy myself at the gigs here now…
Used to be a lot more fun, I really have no idea what
happened.. I have nothing against these bands that play
those styles, regardless of genre here and there there
are still a few good songs (but nothing comes to mind
now haha). If they enjoy what they play then more
power to them, that’s all.. haha.

6. P: Have you made any tours/gigs outside your country?
If yes, how was the response?
H: ..Sadly, no, mainly cause
of me cause I didn’t know where my passport was
at one point.. only got it done early this year, so hopefully
it wont be a problem anymore when it comes to this.

7. P: I've heard some songs on your myspace and some
of it is on English, some on your native language.
What are lyrics about and who is writing it in your band?..
H: Ahh actually most of the band members speak English,
my native language is Chinese but I’m horrible as hell at it,
and the other 3 members native language is in malay.
The malay song on the myspace is actually a cover from
an old malay rock band here, we don’t write lyrics in malay..
too hard for me! Lyrics are written by me and ariff, actually
we write whatever comes to mind and try to make some
sense out of it.. we aren’t really geniuses or anything so
you wont find Aus-Rotten like lyrics here
(wish we could though).

8. P: Also, i've found your stuff very melodic but with big
influence of oldschool hardcore/discore, like Black Uniforms
and even heavy metal/speed metal.. So how would you
describe your style, more newschool or completely 80s-way?..
What's your biggest influences in both metal & punk?
H: ..actually, I don’t even know how to describe ourselves..
we usually just say we play metallic punk or a metal punk
kind of way.. I’m quite sure Iron Maiden is a very obvious
influence in our sound, but other bands that have really
influenced us are Anti Cimex, Black Uniforms, Wolfpack,
Discharge, Motorhead and Black Sabbath?
Probably a few more as well..

9. P: Can you recommend some other great bands from
your country?
H: ..sure thing.. my personal favourites are Distrust
(great d-beat/discore) and Bloodstone(Thrash Metal)..
and I’m sure everyone knows Impiety too. Minus are
also a favourite, but I prefer their older stuff..
I really like Sedilix as well but sadly they’re no longer active..

10. P: Two(?) of you guys are the members of M.P.D.S.
This community is the only example of punk-metal
'movement' nowadays, but people in it are so FAR
from each other) Do you know some other guys from
M.P.D.S. personally?
H: ..haha other then the Singapore “members”
(about 6 people here?), I don’t know the others personally..
would definitely like to meet them all though one day..

11. P: We here know nothing about Singapore)
Can you tell, in a couple of words, how do you guys
spending your time and taking a rest in your free time?..
H: ok Singapore is actually a really boring country.. haha.
I guess it’s the same as elsewhere in the world, we just
hang out, drink and all that kind of stuff, if there are gigs
we’d go there, otherwise its more or less just hanging out..
but I really enjoy sleeping now because I’m always
so deprived of it in the army.

12. P: Do you care about politics of your country or you are
totally apolitical?
H: ...well more or less we do care about what
goes on and stuff, but become apolitical because not much
can be done, nothing changes.. sadly this is Singapore,
not a country where we are free to practice all that other
stuff that goes on without much worries. You can call us
hypocrites, posers or whatever but one must live here to
understand how stuff works.. (completely understandable
for any russian i think - ed.)

13. P: What do you think about straightedge and veganism,
are there many people in Singapore into that movement?..
H: ahh there are quite a few, some of our friends are also
into that as well.. I guess its good for them, if they’re happy
with it why not eh? Just means more stuff for the rest of
us haha! Its just not a lifestyle that I choose to take up.

15. P: If some of you like to read a lot, can you name some
great authors/books you like to read?
H: Ariff reads a lot, will have to get back to you on this!
I try my best to read more as well, but I don’t always
know what to read.. I read lots of random stuff,
so I cant really think of books that come to mind..
just finished reading a few Chuck Klosterman books
about 2 months back tho, thought they were pretty good.

16. P: Also it would be cool to know your tastes in movies.)
H: I like nearly everything.. war films, gangster films,
comedies, action, blah blah blah.. some personal favourites
are Scarface (both original and the Al Pacino one),
Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Young and Dangerous,
Kung Pow, Tenacious D The Pick Of Destiny, The Departed,
Mad Max 1 and 3 (never got to watch 2 sadly),
Saving Private Ryan, Harold and Kumar
and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.. and these are just a few!

18. P: Personal question for Harold: i know you're
serving in army now.. army service really sucks in Russia,
cause of bad conditions and stupid people there, hehe.
How would you describe army of your country?.
Are every man in Singapore must serve?
..Is it really a militaristic country?
H: ...more or less every able bodied man must serve
2 years of national service here in Singapore..
the only exceptions are those either too physically
or mentally unfit. I wouldn’t really consider Singapore
a militaristic country, this army is mainly for “defence”
because Singapore is so small and barely anyone wants
to be a soldier here so they really need all this manpower..
hahaha but its unfair for those who couldn’t care less!

19. P: Last question: do you know any bands from Russia,
and do you want to come here someday for a travel?...
H: Sadly no Russian bands come to mind at all..
I probably listen to a few but I don’t know that
they’re from Russia.. I definitely would want to go
and travel there though, after my army service
i’m planning on traveling to lots of places.. .
and if State of Decay are all free hopefully we could even tour,
would be a dream come true.

-cheers bro!

p.s. Please notice that this interview was taken
almost 8 months ago on that moment.
Originally printed in december '08 on russian.