Having debuted their first song just over a month ago, you may have heard about Dear Furious. If not, just check out the pedigree of this lineup, would you?
- Isaac Golub, vocals (A Chorus of Disapproval, A18)
- Mike Hartsfield, guitar (Outspoken, A18, and many more)
- Brian Manry, guitar (Mean Season)
- Marc Jackson, bass (Throwdown)
- Matt Horwitz, drums (Adamantium)
Shit, a solid Mean Season connection will get my attention any day of the week. Throw in legends such as Mike Hartsfield and the uniquely charred vitriol of vocalist Isaac Golub—and former members of Throwdown and Adamantium? Come on... at that point, any respectable hardcore fan has no choice but to start paying attention!
So, yes, I am quite psyched at the opportunity to premiere this ruthless new slab of heaving metallic hardcore excellence. Stream "Claws Out" below, followed by a brief yet informative chat with Isaac Golub, providing some additional insight on Dear Furious...
Dear Furious shares its name with Amendment Eighteen's final full-length, and it's been stated in the past that A18 was a pissed off reaction to elements of the hardcore scene that you had perceived to be heading in the wrong direction. Your latest press blurb stating that Dear Furious aims to "eclipse the already fading light of staleness and mediocrity," I can't help but feel like this is a renewed continuation of that same mindset from the A18 days. Is that the case?
I didn't really think it was heading in the wrong direction necessarily, just becoming a different thing altogether, but still calling itself hardcore in that time. When Mike [Hartsfield] and I started Amendment Eighteen in 1998, there were many dance bands disguised as hardcore bands. In that I mean more and more hardcore bands were concerned with how they looked and dressed when they performed. Many bands were having the discussion at their rehearsals regarding synchronized jumps and dance moves, and where to put the "breakdown" and for how long (I've been guilty of the breakdown part). For me, once all the bands have a similar look and sound, I get bored. In these more current times, there are still a lot of great new bands—younger cats doing their thing, ya know? Writing great songs is the focus for them, and it shows—image and merchandising are the afterthought.
It does seem, though, nowadays getting internet followers, buying followers, hoping for that all-important social media shout-out to really get the ball rolling, and merchandise are more important than crafting a really great set of original songs and stabbing them out like a prison riot. If you have more logos and merchandise options than you have original songs, in my opinion you are not serious. If you are in the older age range doing a band and are still writing the same type of lyrics today that you were writing in your fake 8th grade band, maybe take a college course on band practice night instead. If you were once involved heavily in hardcore then disappeared for 15 - 20 years and came back suddenly four months ago, gung-ho like the scene owes you something, you're suspect.
So, when I say something like "eclipse the already fading light of staleness and mediocrity," I mean the lights have been cut off on this section of the hardcore building. All the exits have been blocked and the sun is going down fast. So, let's lace up, wait until it gets pitch-black in here, get ferocious, ground and pound, and see who's really real. Musically speaking, of course.
I've not seen the lyrics, but more so than your previous track, "Got Your Name on It," "Claws Out"—as its title would suggest—is just ragingly ferocious. Musically there's a touch more of a metal undercurrent, and the vocals are just seethingly, well... furious!
Yeah, I still write exclusively personal, scathing lyrics and deliver them with a sincere anger. I want my lyrics to sound like a threat, like that fight-or-flight moment right before something horrible is going to happen. But, I also write very metaphorically: believe it or not, "Claws Out" is a love song.
As far as that metal twist to the music, of fucking course! Brian Manry wrote these riffs, my dude is a beast! He wrote and performed in Mean Season, for me the best band to come out of the '90s California hardcore scene. This band is 23 years in the making for Brian and me, after I tried out to be the singer of Mean Season in 1994. That didn't end up happening, but the way Brian and I looked at each other during that audition, we knew something like Dear Furious was going to happen.
Obviously there's more to come from Dear Furious, but I've yet to see mention of what this might be building up to. A 7"? A full-length? At least in the short-term, where might this all land?
There has been some talk of releasing our four demo songs as a 7", but that's just talk at the moment. I'm not in a rush. Quality of songs is the most important thing to me. I'm learning what not to do from my contemporaries. I want to make sure not to rush/write/record/release some mediocre shit. Having people know I'm in a band isn't important to me. Making sure that I contribute to a quality product is. Quality to me is in the sincerity and feeling, not the production or the release artwork. For now, we're just releasing one song at a time on real, legit, street-level sites such as this. We have a music video shot, edited, and ready for a premiere. That will happen soon. For now, getting on as many shows as possible is a priority. We have a vicious set and are ready to get down.
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Keep your eyes peeled for more news from Dear Furious via Facebook. "Embrace cold darkness, all hail the new flesh."
