Interviews: Hot Cross

With news that the band's debut for Equal Vision has been delayed till 2007, it seemed like a good time to hit up Hot Cross frontman Billy Werner for some of his thoughts about the record, the hardcore scene and everything from Aiden to signing to Equal Vision,

You can click Read More for the interview.

What can we expect from this album? The new demos sound a little
faster than the last EP so I'm very curious as to what you guys are
aiming for.

We wrote "Risk Revival" the same way we've written records in the
past, so whatever you might hear that sounds new or different is just
the sound of us progressing in various ways. There's never really much
of an aim or goal, per se. We kind of fly by the seat of our pants and
see where it takes us.

This is also the first record we've written without Josh Jakubowski,
so certain elements may be indicative of his absence. What we're all
happy about is that the songs manage to sound really cohesive; they
all have very obvious beginnings, middles and ends. Fortunately, they
all still sound like Hot Cross songs without sounding too far out
there or too repetitive. People might also notice a tiny bit more
aggression and energy in the recording than the past. We spent a long
time writing and revising, so hopefully the amount of hours spent on
all this will show through in a positive way.

How did the partnership with EVR begin? Obviously Level Plane is a
label you guys are very close to for many reasons (Drummer Greg Drudy runs Level Plane) was the album
written before you signed?

Two summers ago, a group of EVR staff members came to ABC No Rio to
see us play. They all paid to get in, apologized for being a little
late and hung out afterwards to chat with us. We were all really
impressed by how down to earth they were. They approached us as fans
of the band with a genuine interest in what we do, not as an anonymous
group of talking heads.

Aggressive music truly has the ear of mainstream culture and people that can do more than "preach to the choir" are throwing it away. It's both disgusting and fascinating. I'm not a fan of Anti-Flag, but they're a band that have taken their popularity and have done something with it. Why is Aiden a model for kids and Anti-Flag isn't? It's a lot easier to gel your hair than stand for something. It doesn't get more depressing than what you see happening right now.

After that, we interacted with EVR for quite some time before anything
really went down. I don't think people realize how much time this all
takes before anything is actually signed and finalized. I'd say we
were chatting with the label for the better part of a year before we
even discussed being a part of it. It also helped that we heard
nothing but positive things about EVR from virtually anyone we spoke
to who had any personal deaings with them.

Being on Level-Plane basically meant that we were releasing our own
records. It was a long, hard decision to let someone else into the
picture. Ultimately, we decided it was time to do something new. Greg
is still releasing the vinyl version of the new record, but his level
of involvement is about 1/100th of what it would have been otherwise.

We were already in the process of writing new material when the
signing went down. It's not like we signed and then scrambled to write
an album. The writing process didn't changed at all, and we were happy
to have freshly written songs to record rather than presenting a
year-old recording to the label and saying "go for it". We wanted the
most accurate representation of the band to be on the album, and I
think we got it.

I was wondering how you felt about the new prevelance of
"Screamo-lite" or "nu-screamo"; bands that kind of take a watered down
version of that sound and inject a lot more mainstream influences.

Kids are going to make music from the world around them. People don't
realize that everything was a lot different 10 years ago. AFI was
still playing basements and small venues. There were 20,000 less bands
that actually practiced and wrote songs before they went on tour. You
had to pick up a phone to book tours and mailorder records to hear
bands. There was no Myspace. There was no real visibility unless you
made yourself visible and played a ton of regional shows and ate a lot
of shit. Bands didn't tour 8 months out of the year in a brand new van
and trailer.

That's not to say that things were BETTER, just very, very different
and a lot more difficult. There weren't all these small labels that
were actually imprints of major labels, or "upstream deals" or
anything like that. The point is that the music is ultimately going to
reflect what's going on. People like immediate gratification and the
digital age provides that for both bands and fans. Most of the bands
and records you see getting really popular are a product of a mass
produced junk-food obsessed culture. Immediacy means laziness and
that's why you have a bunch of bands that are the aural equivalent of
empty calories. Believe me, there were bad bands that had nothing to
say since the beginning of time. But I'm more and more shocked that
bands have a prime opportunity to say someting to 400 kids every
single night of the week and they trade that opportunity for a "look"
or accurate Soundscan sheets.

Aggressive music truly has the ear of mainstream culture and people
that can do more than "preach to the choir" are throwing it away. It's
both disgusting and fascinating. I'm not a fan of Anti-Flag, but
they're a band that have taken their popularity and have done
something with it. Why is Aiden a model for kids and Anti-Flag isn't?
It's a lot easier to gel your hair than stand for something. It
doesn't get more depressing than what you see happening right now.

You mentioned your disappointment with many of the bigger bands
around today, so I'm curious what kind of bands you do like, and what
you were listening to recently.
I'm totally in love with that Band of Horses record on Sub Pop. That might be the finest record released so far
this year. I've been digging that Unearthly Trance record on Relapse as well. That band is all older Long Island
hardcore kids I used to see around. Strange where people end up. Pissed Jeans is one of my favorite newer punk
bands. I really like Career Suicide as well, but I think everyone does. The cream of the crop right now in terms
of hardcore punk is Criminal Damage. At least I think so. The drummer of Tragedy is in the band. They play pure
classic sounding street punk. They're named after a Blitz song and they should be.

Speaking of standing for things, what do you think Hot Cross
represents or stands for? It might be weird to call it this, but do
you guys have "mission statement" or something that convinces you to
get into a van or a recording studio and record?

We don't have anything like a mission statement. We do this simply because we love to play music and we feel
fortunate that people are listening to the music we make. We know that this isn't going to be a career and we are
not kids anymore, obviously, so we are doing what we can while we can.

You've always had somewhat obtuse, and very poetic lyrics and your
deliver is very unique. I'm wondering what inspires the lyrics and the
sing/scream/sung style.

A lot of the new record was inspired by dealing with loss and how much
of your life can be shaped by one specific event, particularly death.
I carry a lot of personal baggage caused by not knowing whether or not
I've mourned enough for people, or I've dealt with death "the right
way". So, I guess this record is a bit darker and sadder than past
ones. There are also a couple of songs that just came out of my
surroundings. There's another song about "the scene". I hate that
word, but what can you do? I guess it's part 3 of the "Lend Me Your
Brain" / "Better a Corpse Than a Nun" series of songs. There's a song
about the way health care is handled in our country, which is
disgusting to me. Basically, I'm just writing about things that affect
me. Every minute of the day that changes, so hopefully I've managed to
capture some of those minutes.

The delivery is a bit different this time around… a bit more
aggressive in some places, a bit more melodic in others. Writing
choruses was a challenge. Writing for a more straight-forward song
structure is a LOT harder than doing stream of consciousness, off-time
type stuff. I hope I did OK. I wanted the vocals to be authoritative.
Hopefully they are.

What are your plans for the upcoming year?

We are taking it slow this summer. We aren't
going to be one of those bands that's on tour for a year after they
release a record. We are old men with families and stuff. Hopefully
Europe will happen, but whenever we try to do that it gets messed up.

It's cool. People are always going to romanticize what they weren't around to see. Saetia stories always seem a lot more interesting than they actually are. Sooner or later, kids will realize that.

There has been a bit of a gap between releases, and particularly
between full lengths. From 2002-2004 you guys had a release every
year, but it's been quiet for almost two years now. Any reason for the
gap or conversely, any reason you guys felt motivated to write/record
again? (I know you did a split last year, but it's been relatively
quiet)

In 2004 we played 200+ shows and were on tour most of the time. 2005 was time to rest and write. We wanted to approach
the record with fresh minds and ears, so we went MIA for a little while to get started on the right foot. It also
meant that we were writing as a 4-piece for the first time, so that took a little adjusting as well. It's nice to
have a full album done, rather than just another EP. I was starting to think we would become one of those EP-only
type bands.

You mentioned the the songs may be a little more
conventionally structured, and I'm curious as to what got you to do
that.

There wasn't anything in particular pushing us in one direction or another. Our writing style is constantly
changing, and I guess this record is no different. For whatever reason, the songs just came out this way. To
people used to more formulaic stuff, it may still sound kind of 'out there'. To us, its a bit more
straight-forward than other music we've written. I suppose it's all subjective based on what you're used to
hearing. I will say that it definitely still sounds like Hot Cross. It's not like we are covering Story of the
Year now, or something.

You're coming up on your sixth year together, are you sick of
people talking to you about Saetia yet? In all seriousness though,
Hot Cross has been together longer than any of your previous bands,
and I'm wondering what keeps you together and motivated.

It's cool. People are always going to romanticize what they weren't around to see. Saetia stories always seem a
lot more interesting than they actually are. Sooner or later, kids will realize that.

Hot Cross stays together because I don't think we know what else to do. This band manages to drive its
members crazy, yet if it didn't exist I think we'd be a little crazier. We'd have more free time, but we'd
definitely be bonkers. Plus, I've known Greg for almost 10 years now. I wouldn't ever see him if it wasn't for
practice. Hot Cross is the glue that binds us all together.

It's not very common for a band to re-record an album at this
point. What were you unhappy with?

When we were back at home after recording, we listened to the final mixes again and again. There were
inconsistencies in overall sound and levels that jumped out at us that we didn't hear over the monitors at the
studio. It can be hard to detect flaws when you've been listening to the same songs over and over for 14-20 hours
per day over the course of 9 days. We decided that the album needed to be remixed and cleaned up a bit. We
contacted Josh, and fortunately he was happy to help.

While he worked on the remix and started to listen to the tracks closer, he noticed other flaws on individual
tracks; static in the guitars, random noises, small performance flaws that may not be noticed by the public at
large, but would jump out at us… just a bunch of small things that made the remix job a bit more daunting than
anyone had anticipated. He basically told us that there was no way he could have it sounding as it should by the
mastering date we set. We also realized that even with a meticulous remix, we would still not be completely happy
with the final product. When you work for months writing an album and people have been waiting years for you to
produce a new full length, it needs to be the best and most accurate representation of your efforts.
Unfortunately, we wouldn't have ended up with that and we decided that it was best to just start again.

Believe me, we didn't expect to have to do this or really want to, but our priority is delivering a record that
will kick as much ass as possible. Not a record that leaves us thinking we could have done better.

Has EVR had any comments to you guys about the change of plans?

EVR was as disappointed as we were/are, but they also don't want to release a record that everyone involved isn't
completely happy with. And just so everyone knows, this was the band's decision. We didn't hand a record to EVR,
and get it back with an "F" on it, like a college paper. EVR has been really supportive throughout the whole
process, and hasn't guided us in any specific direction other than the direction we felt was best for us. I'm sure
at this point we have already driven them to alcoholism and insanity and we haven't even released a record or gone
on a tour yet.
Sorry, EVR; you've been Crossed. All joking aside, though, we're lucky to have an understanding
bunch of people in our corner. It definitely makes this sort of thing a bit less stressful than it could have
been.