CHAINED is a hardcore band hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. They’ve recently released a brand new demo, available via Spaghetti Spaghetti Records (who we talked to some time ago). Here’s our interview with their vocalist Danny, conducted on September 27, 2012.
Hey! Thanks for taking this interview, guys. Please introduce yourself and tell us how long you’ve been around. How did it all start?
My name is Danny and I do the voice for CHAINED. We’ve been a band for just under a year now, it kinda started after another band that myself and two of the others guys played in fell apart. We picked up Grant and Lee after recording two songs at their house. We jammed a couple times and liked the chemistry.
How did you first fall into hardcore?
When I was in high school, there was a guy who was one year ahead of me and he knew I liked metalcore, so he would just send me hardcore records over Facebook. A bunch of random stuff too. I remember Outlive by GUNS UP, Are These Our Lives? by TRIAL, Process Of by TURMOIL, as well as Wolverine Blues by ENTOMBED, Heretic by DISEMBODIED and Glacial Reign by MIND ERASER. The record that really sold me on it though was The Death of Your Perfect World by BURIED ALIVE. That’s one of my favorite records to this day. Shout out to Arthur Cragg for changing my life.
CHAINED recently released your 2012 demo. Tell us a little bit about the three songs on it.
It’s just a tape that we put out with some of our older material on it. We threw together an intro track a week or two before and recorded two of our older songs that we thought were fairly well put together. Choke is fast and more true to the sound of some of the newer songs. What You Reap is on the melodic side like some of our old band’s material.
What are some of the lyrical themes we will find on the tape?
The two songs with lyrics are both on a more personal level. I’m sure it’s fairly relatable to some people, but the lyrics are mainly about personal battles I’ve dealt with over the past couple years.
Why did you decided to put it out on a cassette?
Tapes are back man! They’re a great way to have a physical copy at an affordable price. A lot of people who are releasing material on cassette include download cards, so a digital copy is still available without having to purchase it again.
Did you sell all of the copies? [smiles]
We’ve only got a handful left. They’ve been going fast.
You guys did a release show at The Owl Farm in Nashville, how was that?
It was really cool. We had some great bands play with us. The Owl Farm is an awesome venue. It’s one of the only spots I know of that’s pretty DIY, other than houses that regularly hold shows. Supporting smaller venues like The Owl Farm is a very important thing. Without spots like that, there would be no place for smaller bands like us to have a shot at playing shows with other locals without having to worry about pay to play bullshit. Support your local venues as well as bands.
We collect opinions about different local scenes. I know I’ve already asked your pals about it, but I’m curious about your opinion. What’s the scene like in Nashville nowadays?
It’s coming up slowly. It was fairly stagnant for a couple months after all of the bands from the generation before us went away. Not many people knew of any other local bands and would only attend shows that had popular touring bands. Now that there are a couple of solid local bands that care, local show attendance has been on the rise and a lot of new faces are coming out. Your locals are your scene’s backbone, support them so that bigger touring bands want to come through.
Will independent labels still have a place in the music industry in several years? What’s the role of record labels in (mostly DIY) hardcore punk bands? What do you need a label for?
Independent labels will always have a place as long as there is still underground music. Having a somewhat well known label attached to your name makes booking tours a lot easier. Venues will be more inclined to consider hosting a show for your band if they think that the show will have a better turn out. The label we’re attached to (Spaghetti Spaghetti Records) is still fairly local. Two of the guys in CHAINED run the label, so naturally we’re a part of it as well. I don’t necessarily think we need a label, but it is nice to know that we could have extra funding for recording or pressing if necessary.
So you guys have a couple of shows booked coming up, anything else in works? Any shows you guys are particularly looking forward to?
As far as shows in the works go I know we’re planning a weekend run near the beginning of November as well as a Tennessee weekend with our dudes from In Decline out in Knoxville. I think we all look forward to every show pretty much hahaha. But we do have some big ones coming up in October. October 15th at Rocketown with STRAY FROM THE PATH and October 30th at the Multiplex in Madison, AL with EXPIRE, BENT LIFE and our dudes in EMPATHY. BELIAL from Decatur, AL is also on that show and they rule. I saw them cover Guilty of Being White by MINOR THREAT in a skate park and it was awesome. Go check that band out.
What about future touring plans for CHAINED?
We’re doing a week in December. Past that, Grant and Lee are graduating college in the spring, so after that we plan to hit the ground running. We’re hoping to have our 7” pressed by then, so we can tour off of that. We want to be gone a good amount of the summer covering as much ground as possible.
How about Europe? Any chances to greet and meet on our lands?
I would love to go to Europe and play. That would be wild.
Cool. Thanks so much. Any last thoughts?
Anytime man! Shout outs to IN DECLINE, BARE YOUR TEETH, COVE, WITH INCREASE, STRENGTHEN WHAT REMAINS, Luke Granered AT PASSENGER SEAT RECS, Righteous Road Dog Jesse Butler, Jamie ‘Hunny Handler’ Pomeroy, Dave Drury, The Owl Farm, No Regrets Coyote, NEST, the rest of our homies on Spaghetti Spaghetti and Two Chainz.
