Interview with Society's Ills
Rezine: Who’s who in the band?
Brent Over on drums, The Naj on lead vocals, Skid Marc on bass and backup vocals, and Danarky on guitar and backup vocals
Rezine: How would you describe your music?
Brent over: Our style of music is a mix of 80s hardcore and 90s skate punk with a harmonic twist and alot of balls.
Rezine: What are your influences?
Danarky: I draw from a wide variety of influences in my writing and guitar work, but I really appreciate artists with a fast tempo, interesting riffs and strong vocal melodies. I'm inspired by classic bands such as Minor Threat, NoMeansNo, Dead Kennedys. These last couple years I've really been into Night Birds and the Rebel Spell.
Rezine: Are their themes that comes out often in your songs?
Danarky: I'd say the themes that come out in our songs are often introspective in nature, written in a figurative fashion. There are some storytelling type songs and in the grand punk rock tradition there is also some socio-political material, with the goal of staying away from cliches to keep it fresh.
Rezine: How long have you been together?
The Naj: Danarky and I were in a band together back in high school. Skid Marc attended school there as well but wasn't in that band. Years later we all ended up in Montreal and Skid Marc kept harassing us to form a band and finally Society's Ills was formed in 2006.
Rezine: How do you feel about the 10 years anniversary, is there a plan to celebrate that?
Skid Marc: For sure we're happy we have made it so far but it's actually not that big a deal for us. We plan on doing this for a long time so we'll party at our 25th anniversary.
Rezine: When you look back at what you did so far is there somethings that you are really proud of?
The Naj: We have two full length albums that have been reviewed by many different music enthusiast. Hitting #5 on The National Loud Chart. We are proud of our videos, especially Adversity making its way on BlankTV.com. In terms of shows, playing with Subhumans, D.O.A, SNFU, Koffin Kats, Turbo AC's, The Dreadnoughts, and so many others. Chi Pig missing sound check because he was drinking beers with us and having the legendary Subhumans of the UK watch your set are moments that will never die forgotten.
Rezine: You have plans for a new album in 2016?
Danarky: Yes! We're really excited to get this one out into the world. The songwriting process began as soon as the last album was completed so we have a lot of material to work with, and most of the songs are ready. We've really pushed ourselves to up our game and outdo our past efforts. The songs are more diverse but stay true to the sound that we've forged together over the past ten years.
Rezine: When do you think it will come out?
There are many steps in recording and producing an album, and the effort required is compounded for a completely DIY band such as us, but that said we expect that we will release it towards the tail end of 2016.
Rezine: How many songs you guys plan to have on the album?
Brent over: we're not too sure how many songs will be on the next album just yet. But we already have more material ready than the past 2 albums and are still working on more. We will only know how many there will really be once we get the recording process started but don't worry there will be plenty of different style songs for all to enjoy.
Rezine: What will be the title of your album?
Brent over: As for the title it will probably only be decided during the recording process like our previous releases.