One of Punk Core’s newest recruits, The Havoc, comprised of vocalist/bassist Jason, drummer Aaron, and vocalist/guitarists Josiah and Justin – all of whom are between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one, and thus are, in Jason’s words, “kind of the young guys when it comes to [the] label” – recently came back home to California after an extensive summer tour across the U.S. for a little down-time before they embark on a short stint in September. Likewise, the band’s debut full-length “Our Rebellion Has Just Begun” was recently released in August and is just a highly impressive slab of riotous streetpunk, which features lyrics that deal with every facet of society imaginable, including politics, government, religion, and rebellion. However, the main message that is really emphasized on this record is the importance of being an individual, not losing sight of your beliefs, and not caring what anybody else thinks – basically living life the way you want to by your own beliefs and not letting anyone tell you what to do.
However, first on the agenda while speaking with Jason was to get the low-down on their summer tour, which just so happened to be the band’s longest foray out on the road yet. And just to keep things interesting during their time away from home, as Jason tells it, The Havoc did experience a couple of glitches – two specific events come to mind – one life-threatening, and the other instance just “kind of a bum deal.” The more serious problem the guys faced while on tour has to do with the band’s RV breaking down on their way to North Carolina in what is truly a scary story, which coupled with all the other horrific occurrences happening to bands lately – primarily Punk Core label-mates Cheap Sex and their frightening brush with death July 25th in a car accident and the death of most of Exploding Hearts in an accident as well – really made the quartet stop and think, “Why are we alive right now?” In any case, while The Havoc were on the road, Jason heard an irregular scraping noise and looked out the window and saw “sparks flying everywhere” from their RV. When they pulled over, he looked under the RV only to find that “the gas tank had come unwelded and was dragging on the highway, and it had dragged so much that it wore a hole into the gas tank and gas was just leaking everywhere.” Fittingly, he wondered how he and everyone else in the RV were still alive, what with the dangerous mixture of sparks and gas. “I thought for sure we would have gone up in flames,” admits Jason, “but luckily we didn’t.”
Yes, luckily for the punk scene, The Havoc lived to see another day because not only are these guys one of the finest new streetpunk bands on the radar, they’re also genuinely good people who seem to truly care about the punk scene and the people at its core – the kids, as opposed to “the people that have been around for years…and are too ‘punk rock’ for somebody. It’s all about the people that are keeping it alive,” reasons Jason. And these guys live by what they say; at shows, they make it a habit to meet people and make new friends. “As soon as we get there, we’re always hanging out with people, talking to them, talking to the other bands…and then we hang out with them afterwards.” Because as he says, “there’s no room for rock stars in punk rock” and finds it “ridiculous” when bands don’t even make an effort to mingle with the crowd. After all, the kids are the ones who “pay to see us, they buy our stuff. They support us,” and therefore, are “the people that count.” Growing up in Oklahoma where the scene wasn’t too evolved, the bassist remembers just how exciting it was when big bands DID come around and how much better it was when he and his friends were able to hang out with them at the show.
The other glitch during the summer tour I’ll just mention briefly because those who attended The Threats show at CBGBs in July and were expecting to catch a glimpse of The Havoc in action deserve an explanation, as none was given that night. Jason offers a simple reason that in the end just boils down to bad luck: “New York is not friendly to us…We got to New York City and we got lost.” Yeah, that’s basically the story – they weren’t allowed through the tunnels because of their RV and essentially, didn’t know where to go from there. “We ended up being lost for over three hours. We paid over forty dollars in tolls because New York is all about the toll roads,” Jason sarcastically relates. (Boy, is this reminiscent of The Virus’ show in Mineola, Long Island or what? One big difference, however, The Virus, thankfully, got to play!). But, the frontman does offer some solace to us disappointed punks: “We’re not going anywhere. I don’t think CBGBs is going anywhere either, so I think there’ll probably be another opportunity sometime down the road,” most likely next summer.
But, back to the band, the ideas they are trying to convey, and their record. As aforementioned, the band’s major theme on “Our Rebellion Has Just Begun” is mainly to “let people know you can believe whatever you believe but don’t let others tell you how to live your life.” Jason seems to feel however, that The Havoc do take some flak for their beliefs. “The way I look at it is every punk band can write about their personal beliefs and that’s cool, but as soon as we do it, it’s like people are like, ‘Oh get that out of here.’” He continues, “To me punk is about being who you are and not really caring what anybody else thinks about it and not changing – just standing up for what you believe.” But The Havoc have had a tough time and take a lot of nonsense for standing up for what they believe. Unfortunately too many people have this misconception about the band, which Jason feels is unfair and unsubstantiated. More specifically, people wrongly infer “that we’re a bunch of religious jerks. Everybody knows for the most part that we are all Christians, but just because we are, that doesn’t mean that we’re saying, ‘Look at us, we’re perfect and you’re going to hell.’ And I think people have that perception about us that we’re like that.”
They’re not “timid” about their beliefs, yet you won’t find them rattling on about them to anyone and everyone they meet either. As Jason succinctly puts it, “If people want to be preached at, they’ll go to church on Sunday morning they won’t come to one of our shows.” Yet, for some reason “people just think that we’re out to preach at them or shove the Bible down their throat or something and that’s totally NOT what we’re about. We’re actually against all that because we know that people [who] do do that, are what give Christianity a bad name.” And in all truthfulness, it is a shame if people within the punk scene immediately write The Havoc off because of their belief system and values, because this shouldn’t even be at issue here. Good music is good music no matter what. And from what Jason says, this is exactly Dave from Punk Core’s reasoning for signing the band. The label knew some intolerant people wouldn’t give The Havoc a chance because of their spirituality, but that couldn’t deter them, and in 2003, Punk Core rightly added them to their roster. After all, just like every other great streetpunk band, The Havoc “write about songs that deal with life and society, government, religion…everything that has to do with modern day life.”
What goes along with this way of thinking – that one CANNOT turn his/her back on his/her standpoint and views just because others don’t agree – is also The Havoc’s greatest characteristic. Of course although they like to tout themselves as “the most extreme death metal band in the world” (don’t ask!), Jason feels what truly makes the band such a cohesive unit and allows it to thrive is the fact that they don’t give into pressure or lose sight of their beliefs or values. “We offer truth to people on anything people want to talk about. We offer…them what we believe to be the truth and we don’t compromise.” And in the true spirit of punk, he adds that The Havoc are “not willing to compromise on who we are and we’re not going to be forced to do something that we don’t want to do…The music and all that is great. Our lyrics – those are all great, but I really don’t think we could function as a band if we didn’t have that quality.”
