1. So first, can you introduce you, your band and why are you decided to start a band?

2. How did Stillborn start, take us to the times when your band was just an idea.



Hey!

First of all, sorry for my bad English, haha!

My name is Ray, I’m a 25 years old vegan straight edge kid from Austria and I play drums in STILLBORN.

The rest of the gang is: my brother Mike on the vocals, Andy plays the guitar and Martin shreds the bass machine.



We started a band called CHARLY BONE back in 2009. At the beginning it was some kind of fun/side project (which explains the silly name). However, things have changed after a while and it became more and more a “real” band.



Years passed by, we grew older, our sound changed a few times and our lyrics started addressing more serious topics focused on more serious things.

One day we just lost the connection to the goofy named hardcore punk band we once were. We wanted to start some serious shit. We wanted to spread a positive message, to play heavy hardcore songs, go wild on stage, travel around and enjoy our time as best friends. So we decided to start STILLBORN. Boom! Haha!

3. What has changed since you started a band until now?



Hmmm…What has changed? Since we started a band we have met a lot of awesome people, have made new friends, have seen cool places and have had a lot of great experiences like that.

And I’m sure that all these experiences and all these moments influence our daily lives in some kind of way. So I’m really thankful to share this important time of my life with these lovely people!

I think we also grow as musicians with every single day.

4. Can you describe the kind of views for which you stand as a band?



Veganism and animal rights are really important to us! Everyone in STILLBORN is vegan and we always offer free information and stickers about animal rights at our shows.



But we also talk about other serious things on stage such as sexual harassment, homophobia, sexism and all that bullshit which spreads so much hate around the world.



I think it´s really important to keep that whole “Hardcore is more than music” attitude alive.

When someone shows up at our merch table (usually I do the merch) and says things like “You guys inspired me to go vegetarian/vegan” or “your words tonight on stage meant a lot to me” - THAT means the world to me!

5. What are band’s future plans?



The usual band things I guess.

Traveling around the world, playing a lot of shows, writing music, doing records, spreading a positive message, having a good time together, …



At the moment we are about to release a new 7inch EP called “Forced”. We expect it to be released this summer.

6. Were you guys in any other band before Stillborn?

As I mentioned earlier, we have already played in the band CHARLY BONE together.

Years ago Andy, Martin and me also had some kind of Thrash/Death/Metalcore band before CHARLY BONE. So we have already spent a lot of time in the practice room together.

7. Which message do you want to convey to people with your music?

Our intention is it to inform people about the cruelty and insanity of killing, torturing and exploiting animals.

From our point of view it’s completely wrong to abuse and kill these innocent living beings just for the human cause. It´s totally unnecessary!

We are not a finger-pointing band and we definitely don’t want to be preachy or something like that.

Rather we want to inform people about the truth and inspire people to open up their hearts and minds. Clear your mind; open your eyes and you will see all the mad things which go completely wrong on this planet.

8. Which of formats do you prefer and why? (CD, vinyl..)

I grew up with CDs and maybe that’s the reason why I prefer them. But I really love vinyl too!

Especially artwork and stuff like that.

As long as the music sounds good to me I don´t care about the format. And I´m not a sound Gourmet, hahaha!

9. Who introduced you to Hardcore?



There wasn’t any special person who introduced me to Hardcore.

I grew up as a metal kid and someday I got into Metalcore bands like HEAVEN SHALL BURN and MAROON.

I was overwhelmed by the brutal sound and the fact that these bands really had something to say. Due to these bands I also discovered things like veganism, animal rights or straight edge. One thing led to another and I discovered Hardcore.

The more I got into it, the more I loved it! The lyrics, the music, the message, DIY, fanzines, politics, the energy and so on. It was mind blowing!

Hardcore means a lot to me but unfortunately there are a lot of douchebags in this scene too.

10. And if this person/people never introduced you Hardcore, what do you think your life would be?



I would be a vegan straight edge metal kid, hahaha! ;)

11. If you could change one thing about the scene, what would you change?

I would love to see the whole Hardcore-Gossip-Internet-Society fall apart! Hardcore has a HUGE gossip problem! “My friend’s friend cousin knows somebody who said this and that about this band… blablabla” or still my absolute favourite

“Somebody on Facebook(!) wrote this and that about their singer, guitar player etc.”

But if I really could change just one thing, I’d like to see more open minded people in the scene.

12. On what point is your band different from others?



Our singer Mike, he is a beast. Do you know “The Beauty and the Beast”? Mike is the Beast. I swear! Haha!



We aren’t much different compared to other bands. We are just four vegan dudes who do what they love the most.

13. What band would you most like to share the stage with?



Maroon – They are a huge inspiration to me.

14. Who writes lyrics for you?



My brother, Mike and me.

15. Can you remember your first show, tell us something about it.



I think our first show with Mike on the vocals was back in summer 2009 in Vienna. Charly Bone was the opening band for CATILINA (RIP), LIONHEART and xREPRESENTx.

It was a lot of fun (although our song writing wasn’t the best at this time)

I also remember a very smelly sweater there, but I won’t go into detail about this, haha!

Our first show with Stillborn was in summer 2013, also in Vienna. We shared the stage with MAKE MY DAY and BITTER VERSES.

It was a great feeling to play the new songs and to be back on stage again.

16. What is your home scene like?



The Hardcore scene in Vienna is like every other scene in big cities, I guess. People come, people go.

There are trends, ups and downs but there are still the same passionate people who built the foundation of the scene back then.

17. Best/Worst thing about touring?

The best thing about touring is to meet lovely people, see new places,watch the landscapes on the ride and just have a good time.

To me every single moment on tour is something special.

The worst things are van problems and getting robbed I guess, haha!



18. What current Hardcore bands do you support?



Earth Crisis, Barren, Public Domain, First Blood, Bane, xBishopx, Demonwomb, Punch, Empty Handed, Wolf Down, Bitter Verses, Torso, xKingdomx, … This list could be endless..

19. What is your most interesting story/experience while on tour/concert?



Oh, there are so many… I’ll pick a funny one ;)



We were on our way home from Germany (we played a show in Augsburg together with NO SECOND CHANCE, MALEVOLENCE, xVICIOUSx and FELONY).

Two friends of ours had joined this trip too.

We drove on the highway and were looking for a gas station because we were about to run out of gas. We thought: “we are driving on a damn big highway, have seen a lot of gas stations at our outward journey, there HAS to be a gas station within the next couple of miles!”



And we drove, and drove, aaaaand drove but still no gas station in sight. Suddenly the van started to slow down, the engine turned off… we really ran out of gas! With the last push we managed to a height of the street and then we saw it - A GOD DAMN GAS STATION! Unfortunately the gas station was on a hill beside of the highway!

So we rolled downhill the height of the highway and used the push to get as far as we can. Nevertheless it wasn’t far enough, haha! So everyone jumped out of the van and pushed it up that hill. Everyone, except one friend of ours, haha!

He had drunk too much that night and fell asleep back in the van. After a while of pushing, laughing and screaming he woke up (looked very confused), jumped out of the van, started pushing too and asked me “What the hell happened? What are we doing here?” Hahaha!



We pushed the van through a traffic circle and finally reached the gas station. Our lungs hurt due to the cold air that night (it was October) but anyway, we laughed our asses off. Good times, hahaha!

20. What does Hardcore mean to you personally?

Hardcore means a lot to me. It always given and still gives me the opportunity to express myself, to express my feelings and the way I am.

Hardcore opened up my mind in so many ways and I´m really thankful about that.

21. Do people in your country Hardcore scene makes differences between each other? Like there are kids who are into Hardcore only because it is cool and kids who really love Hardcore.



Sure, there are always kids in the hardcore scene because they think it is “cool” or “trendy”. The most important things to those people are to look cool, to be the king in the moshpit, the question who has the most tattoos and so on…



However I don’t care too much about those people. They are just consuming the music. They come and go.

The only thing that bothers me about them is that they make Hardcore look like a fucking joke. However there’s no need to worry as they are usually dropped out after 1-2 years.

22. What is your opinion on “crowd killing”?

If you are at a Hardcore show just for beating up other kids then get the fuck out! You don’t belong there!

And if you want to play the fucking king: expect resistance!

23. There’s a lot of sexism in the Hardcore scene, what do you think about this problem?

Sad but true.

Sexism still is a worldwide problem and the Hardcore scene is no exception.

It’s up to every single one of us to make a change. Start questioning this whole fucked up system, start with yourself, start at your local scene.

If you see sexist behaviour, don’t close your eyes, react! If you suffer because of sexist behaviour, react! If you are too afraid or ashamed to react, share your experiences with your friends or family! Sexism is just unacceptable!



Our song “No means No” (Forced EP) deals with the problem of “cat calling” and street/sexual harassment (which ends, if the worst comes to the worst, in rape)

WAR ON WOMEN, a feminist Hardcore/Punk band from Baltimore, inspired me to write this song.

24. Thank you so much for doing this! Do you have some last words, shout outs or quotes?

Thank you for the interview!

Thanks for checking us out!

SHOW SOME HEART, GO VEGAN!

Cheers!



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