Push to Fire Interview: This is Hell This is Hell formed in New York in June of 2004. The band made an immediate impact on the hardcore scene four years ago and are still going strong. Lee Brown spoke to guitarist Rick Jimenez in Leeds on their recent first UK headlining tour.
Lee: First off, I just want to say thanks for taking the time to do the interview Rick: Oh yeah, no problem Lee: So how's the tour going so far? Is it going well? Rick: Yeah, we just flew in about 3 days ago now and we hung out a little bit to try and catch up with a little sleep before our first show in Brighton. Then we did Norwich last night and we're doing Leeds tonight, it's been awesome so far. Lee: Last time you were in the UK was with Comeback Kid? Rick: Yeah, we were with Comeback Kid. The first time we were in the UK we did mixed stuff, we did a few shows with Lost Prophets and we did a few one offs. It's been awesome; we've been able to play some really cool places.
Lee: How have the shows that you've played over here compared with the ones in New York? How do the scenes compare? Rick: It's similar, you know we're usually in and out, we don't really hang out at one particular spot for too long, we go to the next show. Some places are cool, some place's suck, it's kind of like that all across the board, not like a different way of judging America, UK, Europe or Canada. So as long as the show is cool and the kids are cool it's pretty similar. Lee: So what influences you... coming from New York, bands like Madball and Sick Of It All? Rick: I think Sick of it All are probably my biggest as hardcore goes, they were the first hardcore band I saw live and thought "this is what I want to do". Everything really changed and focussed what I was into the most; bands like Sick of it All, Agnostic Front, and bands like Biohazard, who are like big deal bands to me and there was always other bands like Minor Threat and Rancid, you know. Lee: New York and Washington were like the key areas where the scene exploded, growing up in that scene how have you seen it change? Is it still quite similar and in its prime now? Rick: We're from Long Island, so it's a little bit of a different scene. I was definitely more of a New York kid than a Long Island kid, the shows I went to were in New York and I was listening to New York bands. But I think New York dropped off by a considerable bit, but I think that that's due to the fact that we had a mayor who shut down all the venues. CBGBs is gone, Coney Island High is gone. The only venues that are open now, for the most part, are like big venues, like Irvine Plaza; they're doing hardcore shows but bigger hardcore shows but it's hardcore bands playing a show in that venue more than a real hardcore show. Plus the cost of living in New York, Brooklyn, and Manhattan is so expensive it's hard for bands to function.
Lee: So are bands having to spread out to the suburbs? Rick: Yeah, yeah, so right now New York city hasn't been as vital as it used to be, as opposed to up-state and Long Island... there's still passion in New York, like the older bands like Sick of it All and Agnostic Front. Lee: Do you think that's just happening in New York or do you think it's happening all over America? Rick: I think it's kinda strange. It's hard for me to understand as I'm only from New York. There's always been a big influx from suburban bands but there's still bands coming out of LA, Chicago, whereas there's not so many bands coming out of New York City per se. Lee: New album 'Misfortunes' got released a few months ago, are you happy with the response? Rick: Oh yeah, we were really excited by the album, we thought it was the best thing we'd done so far and we werereally excited kinda like just for ourselves writing these songs and having these songs to go out on tour you know, it's cool. You know, the most important thing after making ourselves happy is to make sure that people who liked our band prior, are into it and we've got a positive response.   Lee: You've had a lot of good response from the UK press Rick: Yeah, yeah, which is cool but it's not like something on a list of "I hope this happens, I hope that happens", but I hope, for me, that someone likes it rather than dislikes it. Although, like I say, there's no point in thinking "Oh man i really wish this magazine would review it", all that really is, is someone's opinion. You always figure 'bigger magazines', they don't really know what the fuck they're talking about anyway. With kids we always hope they recognise elements, like we recognise in the music. It's cool we haven't really had any negative feedback about the album, we've come over here and been playing more and more of these songs and people seem to know them, and fortunately those who don't will go out and buy it. Lee: Obviously, like you said, you've got to try and push yourself and progress with your music. Do you think all the fans that liked your prior records can still say "this is what I consider a This Is Hell record"? Rick: Yeah, obviously with the nature of our band you know, we feel one way at one point and another at another point so can't write the same album. Plus, you know, the more we play together, the more we want to write, it's cool because the type of band we are and the way we go into things is kinda like, I hope that everything's gonna be a little different but it's always gonna be the same because it's still us, so it's always gonna be the feel of the band even if we're gonna be doing something a little different.
Lee: I Interviewed Liam from Cancer Bats last year and he said you'd recorded a split 7" together, was that released over here or just in the States? Rick: I guess, the label that put it out was based in North Carolina for a while then moved to L.A. and it took a while for it to come out. I know it's been out in the States now from, I think, November. I think we even got a pressing of it last time we were out here but I don't know if it was actually released over here, I know we had some with us and Cancer Bats had some out here. Lee: Would you think of joining up again for a tour or another split? Rick: Well they were one of the first bands we met while doing This is Hell and we've stayed in touch and done 3 or 4 tours together now, so we'll always be connected with that band. Lee: After this tour what upcoming plans have you got? Are you heading over to Europe or heading back to the U.S.? Rick: We play here tonight and we play London tomorrow and then head over to the mainland for just under two weeks. We do Germany and Belguim, we're doing the Grozerock festival - its gonna be awesome, some bands we've never played with before like Bad Religon and Agnostic Front and some guys we know (Parkaway Drive) are playing too. And I think it's the second time we play with Sick of it All on this tour, which is great, which is one of those bands I need to play with, so that's awesome. We do that, then we're gonna fly back home and do a Canadian tour and then figure out what we're gonna do for the summer. Lee: Probably a bit of a daft question, but since the band's taken off, how have you found your life's changed?Are you still working when you're back home or is the band all you concentrate on? Rick: Yeah yeah the band is all we do, we're never home long enough to hold down jobs. I used to have a job that was pretty flexible but like i was like "in a month I'm gonna be gone for a month" or "in two weeks i'm gonna be gone for whatever", but then it got to the point where we were on tour and then another tour would come up so we'd go home and be home for a few days and then we'd go back out again. I haven't worked a real job now for...like since 2005, which is awesome because my goal in life is to do the band, but because it's work there's not much money to be made in hardcore so it can be really hard to stay on top of my bills. It's hard, it's almost living from day to day, you know, which is not an ideal life as it means giving up that security but the things I'm gaining are way more important Lee: Obviously when you're back home you've got family who support you Rick: Yeah, which is cool, that my mom's gonna be supportive of what I do, I mean she worries about what i'm gonna do when this is over and you don't have this money to fall back on. It's kinda like, I don't know, it's when I think back to when I was at high school and didn't want to worry about that kind of stuff, that's one reason I decided to do hardcore - that way of thinking, that like, I guess it must be harder later on but I can always get a job later on even if it's a shit job that I hate. I'd rather do what feels right and that I enjoy and get something tangable from it, it still feels good... I started doing this when i was 20 years old and I'm 27 now. You know, I'm still capable of doing it. Say I have to stop doing this when I'm 31 for whatever reason, I can always get a job, at least I can say I didn't waste this time. Lee: You can always look back on those days and say "I saw things I'd never thought I'd see and got to travel the world"... Rick: yeah, yeah definitely, and hopefully i won't ever have to get a job that i hate. I know people who graduated from high school went straight into that, the thought "I have to go to college, I have to focus on my career"... You don't have to do what everybody tells you you have to do, and that's kinda the way our society works, it sets you up to just get by, it dictates all these things that you need to do in life, that you need to do, where you don't really need to do it. They're like you're not really living a real life, and it's like I am; I'm doing all the things that school, teachers and some parents said you couldn't do, but I'm 27 and I travel constantly and I hang out, I get to play music, my life revolves around been able to espress how i feel and there's nothing better, even if that means sacrificing security. One of my best friends is married and owns a home, which is really hard to do in Long Island but it's like, that's not my immediate goal. Lee: I completely know what you mean, I'm going back to college to do photography and my little sister owns a house with her boyfriend; two of my best friends are getting married next year, and I'm going back to school..awesome! (both start laughing) Rick: You know, it's if you're doing what you feel's right, you're getting that out of life that's like the main thing about hardcore, more than playing this type of music, act like this...it's more like a way of thinking, Do what's right for you and make it work if you can make it work.
Photos by Lee Brown (Rios, Leeds, May 2008). Thanks to Adam for sorting out the interview to us and Rick for taking the time to speak to Lee. Check out thisishell.org/ and myspace.com/thisishell for more info and tracks from the band. More photos from This is Hell's Leeds show (taken by Simon Harrison) are available in the live photos section of the site.