The Casualties
Working Class Music

26.02.2011

Our latest interview subjects have been holding the banner of true punk ever since their establishment in New York back in 1990. They started at the time when punk was nearly dead, and contributed a lot to its revival. However, regardless of the band’s cult status, non-stop touring activities and a total of eight studio albums, there’s not much information on the band on the Internet (e.g. check out an extremely “informative” Wikipedia article). Therefore we decided to make use of yet another visit of The Casualties to Russia and have a chat with Jorge Herrera, the band’s singer and mastermind. To be honest, I was quite surprised when a nice and talkative person showed up for the interview who seemed to have very little in common with the aggressive madman we are used to seeing on stage. But already 10 minutes into the conversation I had no doubts that Jorge is the truest punk I have ever met. You will understand why when you read this interview…

Your latest album “We Are What We Have” was released about two years ago. What about a new record?

We’re going to visit studio in two months. This record’s gonna be a little more different. Especially it’s Jake’s idea (Jake Kolatis, gutar). We have been listening to punk from all over the world and there was even one band from Russia. I can’t remember the band’s name. It was on a compilation and the title of the song was “Seventeen”. We wanna do songs by bands from all over the world, from France, Germany, Spain, South America, Mexico… Our aim is to give American kids knowledge that there are a lot of good punk bands from all over the world. Not only from England or the USA. Europeans are a little more open minded, because they search for different bands, but in the States they listen only to English speaking punks.

We’ve got a lot of songs that fans are sending us from all over the world. So we want to do this album of covers to give the kids a little chance to know these bands. And maybe they will start to search for punk music from other countries.

Have you already picked up the songs you want to record?

Yeah. I have been trying to do this for 15 years. But this is happening only now.

Well, all you need is to go to the studio and record this stuff, am I right?

Yes! Because we all know these songs. We listened to them when we drove a car, we play some of them on tour. So all we have to do is go in and play. In two months we’re gonna record it.

A question about “We Are What We Have”. This title is pretty easy to understand, but anyway, what made you write a song with such title?

Well, the punk scene of this time is going down in numbers. It changes, some people go away, some new people come, the scene changes. And from what I’ve seen many people talk too much: you should be this kind of punk, you shouldn’t be this kind of punk. It was the same thirty years ago, and I have seen that. New generations come and go, but for some reason I have been staying there. And I have seen how people call the others posers. Those people leave this subculture, because so-called true guys laugh at them. But I have never done that. When I grow up as a punk I have seen it many times. And our punk is going down again. But with “What We Have…” we wanted to say that punk is sticking around. That’s all we have, just us and everybody who stick around.

And what about your band name, The Casualties? What meaning did you put in this title?

The name is a long story… When we started a band, we were street kids. We’d hang out on the streets of New York. We’d have a boombox. We’d turn on the radio on this boombox and listen to punk. And we had big bottles of beer and drank it every day. We stayed up from morning till night. First there were three of us, then five and finally it came to hundreds. We thought, “Let’s start a band”, because nobody here played the music that we liked. The scene of NY was mostly hardcore. There were also skinheads (left winged – ed.). There wasn’t real punk at that time. It was something they called punk, but it was more of rock’n’roll, heavily dependent on drugs…

One day we come together one by one at our corner. My lady left me at that time, you know these young things… And the funniest thing that the other guys that were in the band (we weren’t really a band, we just tried to be), their girls left them too. We played that song of a band from Ireland called The Defects (“Casualty”), and we thought, “Let’s call ourselves Casualties”. Hank, who was the guitarist in the band at that time, said our girls left us, so we are casualties… We really thought that it would be a suitable name. And a member of another band that was called Public Nuisance said, “You guys are always drunk, so you should call your band 40 Ounce Casualties”, cause we drank every day about 40 ounces of beer. We wrote a song with this title and it came out from that story (it can be found on EP “40 Oz. Casualties” (1993) – ed.). Then our name became just The Casualties. But before that we were called “4 Big Guys with Funny Boots”.
   
For a long time you have been signed to SideOne Dummy Records. Is it the only label you have been on?

No. We were on two labels. The label story started in the beginning of The Casualties. There was only one label that put out our record, it was called Tribal War. That label was dedicated to squatters (left wing skinheads), and we were the only street punks there. I had a friend on this label, but when I came to him he said that The Casualties did not exist for Tribal War. Then my band started to grow. My brother gave me the money and we made a record by ourselves. And when my friend from the label came along he saw us on the show, and there were 500 kids. He said “wow!” So we recorded our first album and the second one on Tribal War, because my friend also became interested in punk those days. Then we began to grow up and Tribal War was only a New York label, and that was not enough. We spotted a label from California, called SideOne Dummy. They tried to find a punk band and they came to NY to see us play. The show was great, kids were going crazy, so they liked it and we got a deal. But now it’s time to break up a little again, you know. We are looking for a new label now. We and they have started to go in different directions.

A lot of bands prefer to change labels for even two or three releases. Why do you stay on SideOneDummy Records for so long?

Well, they were treating us good. It was very comfortable. The label is important for us, because we need to quickly put out a record, and the band itself goes on tour. We don’t need a lot of money, we don’t really make money. The band itself tours non stop. When SideOneDummy came along we were touring non-stop. We didn’t have a lot of time to care about labels. We try to tour as much as we can, to visit every country. We go on tour for two or three months, then we are back home for one month, but then we go on the road again. We just like pirates, we live on the road. So many years we have lived on the road and SideOne Dummy helped us. We’d say, “We have a little time, we’ve got to go to the studio.” They’d say, “Alright”. As you can see, we make money on the road.

Nowadays you don’t play many songs from your three first albums. Why?

Right. We used to play them so many times. When you play the same thing you become tired. I understand people who wanna hear the old stuff, because when I come to a show of my old favorite band and they won’t play my favorites, I get upset. So we’ve got a number of hits that I like to play and they’re everybody’s favorites, such as “Punk Rock Love”, “Ugly Bastards”, “Punx Unite” and “Unknown Soldier”, but we also try to play a lot from our new records.

You started in the mid-90-s when street punk was not very popular. In your opinion, how did you manage to make it big time despite following no trends?

It’s very simple. Like I said, our life’s like a circle. I’ll tell you a story. When I was a kid, I used to be a peace punk (a punk movement characterized by abandonment of violence – ed.), I used to go on demonstrations. There firstly I faced the situations when one would call the other a “poser”. I decided to leave and became a street punk. We had colored hair and our quantity began to grow. We started as five guys then we became a hundred. Newspapers published our photo with the headline “Punk’s Back in NY”. Two guys sitting on a corner turned into a hundred. People were coming to this place, it was called “Casualties corner”. No matter what time it was, people came to that corner. Someone went home, someone came, it was a non-stop circle. You even could meet people there at 5 o’clock in the morning. Then kids started coming there from other states, because they had heard about our corner. They met us, they had a nice time, then they went back home and came back with their friends. Sometimes we would come to their city by train to play there. They saw us and said, “Oh, yeah! The punk is back!” It was like a virus. A car with eight dirty punks from California came to our corner. They started to hang out, and we asked them, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are travelers. And who are you?” – “We are Casualties”. We treated them like a family, because we all were family. And when they came to California they brought our records there… California had the biggest punk scene. So they spread the word and it was all we needed. All over California people were talking about The Casualties. So we become popular and started touring. Jake had a car, so we travelled by it. We’d go on tour, but when we’d come home we were looking for a job. All the money we earn, we put it in the band, so that’s why we had to have a job somewhere else. But then we went on tour again and then looked for another job. It was really hard, but fun.

Today we have a lot of bands and people that call themselves punks, but their philosophy is completely different. For example, Green Day and Sex Pistols are not the same thing, but each of them call themselves punks. I know that you hate that question, but anyway - what is punk for you?

You see, punk can be different for each person. For me, because of my background, because of the way I grew up, it is more like a working class thing. But I understand that for another kid it’s not that, because of the different background. I saw my parents working at such places as dish wash, factories, foot massage saloon – you know, little jobs. Working class kids don’t have much, all they have is the music. I go to that side. That’s what punk is to me. That’s what our songs are about - everyday life. Well, we went political somehow, because it affects us. We grow up… I always keep my mind open. I was a peace punk, I was a skinhead and I used to be a headbanger too. I used to listen to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and so on. That’s why I don’t like it when people call each other “posers”.

But finally I turned to punk. Punk to me is always standing for the working class. Going back to our political views, we do write about political themes sometimes, but we don’t do it very much, because we can be used if we do it. They can make you a little puppy, you know what I mean.

Going back to the music, all members of the band like different kinds of music. I like classic European punk, but most of our bandmembers like American hardcore. So we have to compromise when we are making a record.

The result is great anyway.

Well, we also have differences when we are on the road. Meggers (drummer) is a vegetarian, two of us are not. I used to be a vegetarian for many years, but when you are on the road you’ve got to buy whatever you can. And when you live on the road, you might start drinking. Three of us drink sometimes, a couple of us like to do a little bit of drugs. I will be honest – I don’t. I’m more straight edge, very straight edge to that, I just drink my beer. And they know it. When I see when they do this I say, “What the fuck?” But anyway, they still are my friends, and that’s what punk is about – do what you want, but don’t destroy my life. But if you do it too much – it’s no good. Everything you do in life that obsesses you is not very good. So I keep an eye on them. When I see that they’ve gone too far I get somebody to talk to them, cause I can’t do it myself. I get too angry and I don’t know what to expect from me. (laughs) They are still my friends anyway, I‘ve got a lot of friends whose views are very different to mine.

I will tell you a little story you should know. The square kids in NY, they live in very dirty places. I ask them, “Why do you live here?”. They answer, “Because we are punks!”. You know, I was a street kid, but I always work, so that lifestyle is not for me. But they are my friends. Punk is also being honest with yourself.

You are always on tour. It’s very difficult to be on the road and be in a good shape all the time. What do you do to keep yourselves in good shape?

I’ll tell you how. I arrived here yesterday, I came from Berlin. But when I came to Berlin I came to a hospital. I had a cold, because of a snow storm. I was very sick. But what you have to do, you have to do. Kids here paid their money, they want to see us, so we have to be there. They want to see us giving 100%, but we’re gonna give them 100% more. We played in Mexico some time ago and the atmosphere was great, but the hand of our drummer started to bleed. But he kept playing. We must make our fans happy. It’s very important for us.

Sometimes we play for a very small audience. You go to the stage and see 20-30 people in the hall. You think, “Oh, shit…”. But we are not one of those bands that make a set shorter in case of that. I will play every song I can, because no matter if there are 20 people or 500 in front of you, they come to see the show!

What about some sports to keep yourselves in good shape?

I don’t actually know what others do when we are not on tour. When we come home, we go to our ladies, and I’ve got a family. So I spend all the time with my kid. But I’ll tell you – I am a big soccer fan. I have a lot of soccer channels. And I have my own Internet channel. Thousands of people visit it, because I do broadcasting for games. And only two people from this site know who I am. But I said not to tell anybody, because it’s just for soccer. That’s my hobby.   

What is your favorite team in Europe?

Sankt Pauli, German football club (shows a fan T-shirt under his sweater). Because of my background, because of where I came from, I am a big supporter of left-winged teams, teams that are supported by poor people - Boca Juniors and teams like that. I don’t know about Russian teams, because they never come to the States.
 
Touring is tough not only physically, but also mentally. How do you get rid of stress?

Oh wow! I guess on stage. You go crazy like all those kids. And where I am off stage I am a pretty nice guy. I think I am. (laughs) I calm down in life, but when I am on stage I am wild. When I leave the stage the stress comes out. After the show guys go to drink and I used to do the same. But now, if I am in the States I pick up the phone and talk to my girlfriend and my kid and then go to bed. When I wake up I do the same thing.

Your shows are attended by a lot of young people. In your opinion, why do they prefer old school like The Casualties to more modern bands such as Blink 182?

The young kids go to our shows, because they are the new generation of punk. The Casualties always keep that crowd. From the beginning till now we are still doing the same crowd with the same anger. So they are the new breed of our fans.

What do you think about such Internet things as MySpace and Facebook? Do you run your pages yourselves?

No, not me. The boys are into that. I don’t believe in Facebook. I have my own page, but it’s a soccer page. Once I uploaded a Casualties video, and people were like, I like that band!”.

And what about illegal downloading of songs from the Internet? What is your opinion about that?

I love it. (laughs) I am one of them, I do it by myself. I found a lot of new music because of it, but if I find the record I will buy it. This is for the people. Many people complain, but I am all for it. Otherwise to me it’s enough that people pay for a ticket when they go to the show.

You have been in Russia and other Eastern European countries a few times before. What do you think about these countries and local public?

There have a lot of in common with South America, because people’s background is from poor families. And I love it, because they are rougher and they make a real show. That’s right because punk is rough. I really enjoy my opportunity to travel around the world. We come once and people that visit our show spread the word, and then we return and see a bigger crowd. Like I said, the band is not about making money, because we don’t have money. We only have money to survive.

Do you have any favorite places in Moscow?

The last time we were here we had very little time, just to play the concert, go to sleep and fly away. We just visited Red Square, that’s all. Tomorrow we will have a day off, so maybe we will go and see something.

Tomorrow there will also be a gig of The Exploited in this very venue. I have you’re your schedule, and you have time to visit this show. Will you go?

The boys will be here, I am sure, but not me. I will watch Copa Libertadores (South American Champions League) on the Internet. I wanna see it and talk to my family. But others will be drinking here.

Some bands don’t like stagedivers, because they disturb musicians when they play. What is your opinion?

I like it. When I was a kid I used to do it, but I tried not to touch musicians. Many kids don’t understand it and I think it’s too hard when they touch musicians. When Jake sees a stagediver, he steps back. We enjoy it, but sometimes it happens when someone tries to throw you off stage not caring what happens to you. But it’s part of the show. I have been thrown off several times, but I look at those accidents now and I love it.

You have the song “System Has Failed Us… Again”. The lyrics of this track are basically your opinion about what’s happening in this world, right?

Yes.

Do you really thing that our world is so bad?

Well, it is. Everything they tell you when you are watching TV, not of all is true. There’s too much brainwash. Sometimes they put on TV shows with very happy people who always smile. But in life there’s not so much happiness. You’d better watch out.

The Casualties on the Internet: http://www.myspace.com/thecasualties

Special thanks to Andrey Sidelnikov (Main Rock) for arranging this interview

Sergei “BoBr” Bobrik
February 3, 2011
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