I'm really chuffed to have gotten the following interview from Misery, as I'm a very big fan. Misery are dark crust destruction from the punk crust capital of Minneapolis. If I enjoyed hacking folks head's off with a chainsaw, I reckon Misery would be my soundtrack. Thanks to Jon and Gary who answered the questions.(issue 667, 2005) When did you first get into punk/hc and what interested you? What keeps you involved? What's influenced (lyrics and music) Misery? Jon: I guess it was the early to mid 80s and it seemed to be the smart way to go.Growing up in a society full of stupid fucking popularity freaks, Renecked fuckheads, and rich little spoiled fuckers, it seemed the only way out.It was a light at the end of a tunnel of hell growing up.I stay involved, because, it is what I have lived for and what I've become.It puts alittle meaning into a pointless existence in a world where things that don't really matter, matter more than anything.I was always a big Crass/ Crass band type of peace punk.Early on, I guess it was bands like that and Discharge, English Dogs,Broken Bones,GBH, EOM, and you know all of the old fuckers that put the power into it.It's good to see that alot of the old bands either stayed together or got back together.Icons Of Filth were also a big influence, musically and lyrically.RIP.The Destructors were one as well, they had a drummer that would give Lars and Neil Pert a run for their money. Gary: I first got into punk in the early 80's, I guess i didn't really fit into the country or metal scenes at the time, if you can even call them scenes, Jon and me lived in a small farming town and had become friends and really just didn't fit in with everyone else. I guess what interested me the most was the energy of the music andthe more I got into it I discovered that the other people I was meeting were really accepting and very open about thier politics. Influences, just take a good look around our world and that is enough to infleunce anyone. Is it awkward finding time to gig with Misery, with one of you playing with 'Disrespect'? Are any other members involved in any other bands? Jon:Both me(gitr) and Gary(drums) are in Disrespect.We also played with Hellspawn together years ago.Gary has also played in Dreadnaught and the Murderers, and Sid played with the Murderers as well for quite awhile.It has never really affected anything going on with Misery. Gary: No it's not hard for most of us, some have other obligations like family and work, Both Jon and me play in Disrespect. Were you all involved in the band 'Children of the Barren Wasteland', was it just a one off? Jon: Oh yeah, I guess I forgot that band.No, Me and Gary were in COBW as well.That was never really a band as we never played any shows.We just got two bottles of whiskey and locked ourselves in my basement a couple weekends in a row and recorded a bunch of stuff with Steph (garys Wife) on the bass and Whisper (ex Zero Hour ) on the vocals.It came out OK so Dan PE put it out.Whisper moved soon after.I also did a CD (soon to be out on Crimes Against Humanity records) with Matt from Civil Disobedience and Bree from deathstate, It's called the Pisshead Blues Band, and is kinda a folk/pissedup/pissed off/punk project we did over the years.We actually did a few shows that went pretty well.We packed a coffee shop full of punks, drinking booze outta soda cans, and the owner didn't know what the fuck we were doing right. Gary: Jon and me were involved in C.O.B.W., along with Whisper from Zero Hour and StephSwill my wife. Do you have any tour stories? judging from your video on MCR, it looks like a serious drinking binge? Jon: that was no tour, it was how life can be in Minneapolissomethimes.We caught alot of bullshit for that video, from the PC punks.I guess they wanted to see animalsgetting cut up and mushroom clouds.That, to us, just showed how closeminded the punks can be, kinda sad reaction to a fucking p@rty video.We've done some pretty good tours as well, mostly with EOM.Just take that video and change the back drops, put it in a van,put it on the side of the road smoking,put it in Poland freezing cold and starving and you can kinda get the idea.We are not only about partying though, it would just be kinda boring to talk about our political beliefs in a different arena than our songs/lyrics.We know what we stand for and state it quite clearly on our recordings, why not make what you can outta this life and have some fun once in awhile.We've some pretty funny stories of being on the road, but, just take one of your blacked out weekends and try to tell me about it.Some things are better left unknown. Gary:Tour stories,...Well, It's always fun to watch Sid puke after a few too many drinks, also he has a problem with his gag reflex on stage. Do you think the underground diy music scene is better or worse since 1989? Do you think things are getting rehashed, as I find certainly here in Ireland, crust has come back again, after fading out in around 1992.Whats the biggest difference do you think? Jon: First off, I have to tell you that we formed in '87.Things here were dead bandwise.It slowly grew and grew even larger for this city.I think that now it is much larger and much more organized in a whole.There was a period where we didn't do many shows, only because of a lack of a good place to do them, and I guess it only got better.I think it is great now, the number of kids that are rediscovering a scene that has been going since they were only a sparkle in an eye.It's funny too, because we're also seeing the old punks coming back out.I hope it can hold itself together this time.Even PE went down for awhile, which kinda made you think, What eh fuck has happened.I think the state of the world today has kinda refueled a fire that was just an ember in the late 90"s.We never went away and never will. Gary: I really do think punk has come a long ways, society as a whole doesn't just look at us as freaks too much anymore, you really don't have to worry about getting jumped walking down the street for having a mohawk or spiky hair too often either. The commercialism i feel may just be the only downer of the entire movement.In other words, the music has lost a lot of it's political angst in the mainstream. Future plans for Misery, do you reckon you'll go for another 15 years? Jon:We write rather slowly, but there will be another LP on PE in the future.We are not going away any time soon.As long as our minds and bodies can do this we will as we still have the drive and energy that so many bands lose through time, they just give up and go live without it.We won't do that.We are not a temp band, we are a part of this whole tribe.Let the tribe increase! Gary: as long as we can go I reckon, I would really like to tour more in other parts of the world. http://community.webtv.net/GAGMEAT/MISERY