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For DiS readers who don’t know you, could you tell us a little bit about your history and what you stand for, in your own words?
Stza: You don’t actually have any questions, you just want us to do the interview?
DiS: No, no I do.
S: So, go ahead then, ask.
As you’re getting more popular, do you think your morals and ideals are going to change? Are you experiencing that at the moment?
Ezra: I think if anything, it’s forcing us to solidify our beliefs.
S: And it’s making it easier for us, me to say what I want to say, because its more acceptable because more people like us, so it’s not just me saying ‘fuck world trade, kill cops, shoot kids at school’ to people that don’t want to hear.
But there is the problem of, as you get more popular, the impact becoming less, because more people are accepting it at face value and not taking it in.
S: It doesn’t make any sense what you’re saying; the impact is getting less because more people are hearing it? Well fine, if they agree to it, then it worked. So that’s a big impact.A bigger impact than if less people were hearing it, and accepting it. That people are going to accept it, means that we’re actually making a difference. That really is the main thing though; the freedom of speech aspect of it, and the fact that it should be acceptable to say these things. Y’know, we say, ‘kill cops!’ because they kill people all the time, and all they get is a slap on the wrist. So, these are just words. A lot of people aren’t necessarily killing cops because I say that. I just wanted to question it more. An extreme statement always makes people think more, like ‘why is he saying that?’ and so on.
At the moment you’ve got a pretty good fan base and are packing out the Underworld. How big do you want to get?
S: The thing with us, is that the people that like us, really like us. The people that don’t like us, really don’t like us.
E: I hope we’re always at the point where more people hate us and are offended by us, than like us. Because if more people like us than are offended by us, then we’re doing something wrong.
S: Exactly. I feel good right now though, where we are, I mean, this is way exceeding the expectations or hopes that I wanted. I really did everything I wanted to do in this band, and the bands that we have been doing, Choking Victim included. So I’m happy right now, I’d like it to stay the same. The bigger you get, the bigger the downfall’s gonna be; the higher you get, the harder you fall. If we stay at this level, it’s a good level, we do pretty good, and we don’t lose money on tour.
E: I think there are a lot of bands that fucking bite it after they get really popular, though. I don’t think we’ll be one of those bands.
S: I think our message is a lot deeper than what a lot of so-called ‘political’ bands say. Y’know those bands, who change their hair all the time, and have ‘a political song’ and you listen to the lyrics, and they’re not really actually saying anything.
If you stay at this level then I guess there isn’t a danger of your message getting lost on the crowd. I mean, there are ‘political’ bands like Propoghandi playing the LA2, having fans sing along passionately to all the words, and then go and eat in McDonalds afterwards. Does that offend you?
S: Yeah. I’ve seen Leftover Crack fans in McDonalds, and it’s really disappointing.
E: At the end of the day, people are people, you can’t change the world. You can try, but people still want their fucking Big Mac and their fucking fries.
S: I’m not intolerant to somebody going into McDonalds or whatever. I wouldn’t do it myself, but if they wanna eat that garbage then go for it.
E: Part of our whole message, is don’t judge other people.
S: We’re not really PC, and purist, like, we don’t judge our fans by how much they are like us. If they’re at the show, then they’re probably getting some part of a message from some song, and that’s cool. There’s many different messages that we have, and if they get one of them, then that’s great.
E: We don’t care if you’re a vegan or eat at McDonalds every day. I’ve seen a kid outside today with a Blink 182 shirt, and I could either be like ‘fuck that kid, he listens to Blink 182, they’re a crap band’ or I could be like, ‘well that kid came to our show. At least I can say something to him…’
S: We figure, if he’s got a Blink 182 shirt and he’s coming to our show, he’s probably getting into better bands anyway, like more political bands or whatnot. It’s probably the coolest shirt he has. He didn’t want to wear some shirt his mom bought him last year. Whatever, that’s cool.
E: Yeah, we don’t care.
I wasn’t sure what your stance was, because some bands aren’t like that. Personally I think it’s all about tolerance.
S: Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you want to be a fucking Nazi and talk Nazi shit then you should be allowed to, because if they aren’t allowed to say what they want to say, then I won’t be allowed to, and that’s all there is to it.
Indeed. And with that, I'll leave you with the Leftover Crack Website to find out more about your new favourite Crack lovin' punks.
