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Music

Life Gets in the Way: An Interview with Brendan Radigan of The Rival Mob

The Boston native talks about his currently massive slate of projects, Black & Blue Bowl, and being a working man.

photo by Tod Seelie

Brendan Radigan knows his way around the microphone, and virtually all of the instruments in a conventional rock band. The Boston area native is not only responsible for some of the most vicious hardcore to be released in the past the years, he's also been a member of several bands ranging from traditional metal (Stone Dagger) to doom (Magic Circle) to Oi (Battle Ruins) to powerviolence (Mind Eraser) and beyond. Along with co-conspirator Justin DeTore, Radigan's most visible project might be The Rival Mob, a quintet focused on taking elements from classic NYHC like Youth of Today and Warzone and giving them a fresh spin. Their recent Mob Justice LP was a favorite amongst the punks, as was their Hardcore for Hardcore and Raw Life EPs in the years prior.

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On the eve of their appearance at Black and Blue Bowl in New York City (May 16 and 17 at Webster Hall, tickets are still available), we cornered Brendan Radigan to ask him about the fest, Rival Mob, Battle Ruins, Stone Dagger, and his near infinite number of projects on the burner.

NOISEY: So you’ve got a hundred bands, so I want to hit as many of them as possible. Let’s talk about Black and Blue Bowl first. What does the fest mean to you and who are you excited to see?
Brendan Radigan: Sure, well I think we’re psyched to do it because it seems to happen every year and sometimes we look at the lineup and I’m like “god dammit when’s Rival Mob gonna get asked to play?” So I’m glad we finally got around to playing it at all. I mean I guess of the sort of reunion type of deals, I’d say it’s one of the stronger sort of set ups for those. I only have been to Webster Hall once before which was to see the official Sheer Terror comeback show after they played This Is Hardcore. I thought it was a blast and we were lucky enough to play that one. But this year is cool to be on it at all, and I’d say I’m most excited to see Crumbsuckers probably. That should be very interesting, and it’ll be cool. I’ve never even attended one which is fucked up. I’ve always seen it happen and some shit in life happens where I can’t go or whatever, and at the very least I’m glad Rival Mob got asked so it’s like “okay I’m finally fucking going and getting to see it.”

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So what’s going on with that band? I know you dropped Mob Justice two years ago I guess?
Yeah, 2013. Like you said in the beginning, we have an awful lot of bands so for the past six or seven years it's just become mainly a balancing act. Give this band a little love, give that band a little love, this band plays one show that one plays the other. We sort of like to map out the shows we have over a year I guess just so we’re not screwing up other bands and projects. It can definitely turn into a huge pain in the ass, but most of the time it works out well. Rival Mob is still going pretty good, we played a show in Sweden two weeks ago which was awesome and it's still surreal to me people would put our fucking dumbasses on a plane to play one freaking show in Sweden, but hell man I wouldn’t get out there any other way.

I’m psyched that people still give a shit, I know that Rival Mob is not a cute young puppy dog anymore. I know in the hardcore scene it’s all about the up and coming singer and what’s in the now, and Rival Mob has been around for a minute so we’re thankful that anyone still gives a shit at all. I like to say even when we play sometimes every show is like our first show, sometimes we have no idea how it’s going to go over. [laughs] But the fact that it’s still going is amazing to me, and also we are planning to put out a new record. We have no idea who’s putting it out, but it’s going to be a seven inch and we’ve slowly been working on it. We’ll play a new song at Black and Blue bowl, but aside from that, shit man. I think it’s just This is Hardcore and one show we’ve been confirmed for in California. Aside from that we’d like to play Australia, we’re saving up to go there, and we’re also going to play Florida I believe because I don’t think Rival Mob’s ever been in the deep south once. Before we break up we’d like to get there once. Off the top of my head I think that’s all I can recall.

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Is that a real thing? Are you guys thinking of breaking up?
Oh no no, I used that term figuratively. Another thing about all the bands is we never freaking break up. [laughs] Like we’ll either get super super dormant, but I dunno the outlook has always been mellow and go with the flow, non-fatalist to where we think something’s broken up. I mean Mind Eraser isn’t technically broken up, but that band plays once every five years. So who the hell knows, I guess.

Yeah, it’s been awhile for you guys. One thing I think is most interesting about you is that you have the Mind Eraser shit and you’ve got Rival Mob which is completely different bag, but could maybe could fit on the same show. And then you’ve got Battle Ruins and the Stone Dagger shit and the Magic Circle stuff. You’ve got your foot in virtually every punk subgenre, and then a lot of love for classic metal sounds. What do you personally connect with lately musically? It kind of feels like Stone Dagger and Magic Circle, those bands are things you’ve done in the past five years. Is it because your listening habits have changed and you want to try new things?
Oh good question. Sadly I’ll say I haven’t been listening to anything lately because my job totally sucks. The only thing cool I had with my other job before I got laid off was that I could listen to music all day and check out new music and it kept the brain very fresh and inspired. Now that I’m here I’m sort of tied up financially and timewise so I can’t just kick back and check out new things.

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As far as the branching out goes, I guess traditional hardcore and punk, I think it had a lot to do with… Well you know how hardcore bands will start out and they’ll totally suck but there will be a charm to them, like the first Crass records. No one could play their instruments at all and that was kind of the charm of it. I mean it’s kind of cool to say none of us had any formal training and we weren’t good at anything we tried, we were just hacks like any other true blue hardcore band, couldn’t play a fucking lick. Sometimes we still can’t. [laughs] But I think as we mature and kept playing music, we wanted to satisfy other ways of playing. I’m not trying to diss anyone, not trying to diss any, for lack of a better term, “hardcore for hardcore” wink wink motherfucker, but if you’re in your 30’s or 40’s and you haven’t started to appreciate much other kinds of music I feel sorry for people like that.

These days, christ. Man, I love anything. It’s weird man, I don’t think I listen to anything with regularity anymore, and that is awesome. I really dig listening to ten genres of music in one sitting. I think it’s cool sometimes if you try to disconnect from being stuck in one genre or style or image, because I think all that really matters is the individual and what music means for that individual. I’ll never know what music means to you or anyone, it’s all about the individual experience. I think if a person has the willpower to do something, and they really love it and want to do it, I’m psyched to hear it. If it’s hardcore being made by a metal person, metal being made by a hardcore person, fucking polka being made by a hardcore person… I’m down to hear anything by someone. That’s one of the things about the modern age that doesn’t totally depress me, it’s become a real feeding frenzy for different styles of music and stuff. I think it’s great and to be able to play different styles of music after so many years. I think it’s one of the things that actually makes us interesting after all these years, we don’t have to play the same thing and get sick of it.

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A couple of these bands you’ve toured with and do gigs and one offs. But a few bands haven’t really ventured out of the studio like Battle Ruins or Stone Dagger. Do you feel like you’ve segmented those bands as sort of recording projects or do you have any plans to bring those on the road?
Anything’s likely. But with those bands, before I’m dead and buried I’d be thrilled to play with them. With Battle Ruins, he wouldn’t mind me saying this at all because he’s awesome, but Pierce really isn’t into playing with Battle Ruins. Which is funny because it’s one of the only things I’ve seen him be serious about. [laughs] So we just respect that, and for his own personal reasons as far as right now wants to keep it a studio project. Which is fine with me, I’m not heartbroken or anything. But like I said, I’d have no problem playing a Battle Ruins show so maybe he’ll change his opinion. And Stone Dagger we’d also love to play with that but it just comes back to the timing. Because it’s a heavy metal band we’d want it to sound really tight and good, and also we’d need to put together a lineup because for that record it was just me playing everything and CC and Justin playing the drums and CC playing leads. We need to practice a bunch, for example we’re working on the Magic Circle LP. But I’d love to play with Stone Dagger if we could get a decent amount of time off of it.

So you said you were recording a second Magic Circle LP, do you have a home for that?
Ah yes, we’d like to be done with that I think by July. And we already have artwork, and all the songs were recorded. We still need to put in real bass and I’ve done two vocal tracks so I want to go in and do two more. It’s a seven song LP and we don't have a home for it yet, but we’re entertaining a few offers and looking for a perfect fit. I usually don’t get involved in the business, so I’m probably not a good person to ask about that. But we’re still working on that and very very close to getting it done. We’re hoping to have it out by the end of the year.

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Any other recording products that are cooking and/or have solidified?
Right now, it’s basically as it stands we’re getting the Magic Circle thing done. After that, sometimes things just move glacially. We did have a practice to write more Battle Ruins songs which we’d like to do another seven inch, but like the EP came out and five years later the LP comes out so who knows when that will get done. I guess everything I’m actively doing right now is frustrating, but it’s still on the burner just super low. We have all the Rival Mob songs for the new record written, it's just finding time to record the damn thing. I have three new Stone Dagger songs it’s just finding the time to get it all done. Magic Circle is going well because that’s the main focus so it should be out pretty soon. But life just gets in the damn way.

What do you think it is about you and Chris Corry and Justin DeTore that just makes you guys orbit around each other with all these bands? I’m sure there’s a great friendship and chemistry there.
I might get a little weird but I don’t give a shit. I think we all work well together because we’re all weird and negative and not a lot of fun in a studio, which makes you laugh but honestly it’s a reason we stayed together making music for so long. I guess on some level it clicked somehow, like when you see Rival Mob it’s a clown show and all jokes and stuff. But Justin is very very serious, very exact musician especially with drums. Same with CC and guitars, he’s very focused. Believe it or not even when I work with them in Battle Ruins or Magic Circle, we focus well together. We’ve been doing this so long we have good vibes and artistic sensibilities in the studios. It’s become it's own marriage, which you know, definitely has its ups and downs but at this point it’s like we’ve been doing it so long, we can’t see anyone else we’d do it with or in exact projects like Magic Circle. It’s just been a long process to understand each others artistic vibes.

One last question for you, what's your favorite instrument to play and what is your favorite thing for Justin DeTore to play? Vocals, drums, guitars…
I like Justin doing anything. To be honest with you, and I’m sure he’d hate to hear me say this, but he’s probably the most well-rounded person. He’s really good at like guitar, bass, drums and he’s a hell of a vocalist in the hardcore and death metal stuff. So he’s rock solid in anything, and I’d say I’m most comfortable as a singer or front man. I love writing stuff on guitar, but I’m probably useless when it comes to playing live or whatever. I’m way more on my own weird solo level, at my own pace on guitar and bass. And drums I’m just thankful I don’t have to do it anymore because I’m too old for that shit! [laughs] And I’d literally rather swallow a bullet than play grindcore drums. And I love Mind Eraser, but I’m straight up too old and out of practice.

Fred Pessaro has been invited to the Boot Party. Follow him on twitter.