Hardcore heroes Every Time I Die (ETID) are set to release their new album, titled From Parts Unknown on June 27 via Epitaph Records in Australia and New Zealand.
For this record the band brought out the big guns and spent a month recording with legendary producer and Converge co-founder and guitarist Kurt Ballou at his GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts. “Working with Kurt was stressful in the best way, like when your dad comes to watch you play baseball for the first time and you just want to make him proud,” says the band’s singer Keith Buckley.
Having spent 16 years as one of the world’s most influential and revered hardcore/metalcore acts, we thought they’d know a thing or two about the history of hardcore music, so we chatted with ETID singer Keith Buckley about the pivotal moments and acts in hardcore music history from 1980 to today.
1980s
Defining band: Minor Threat
Defining moment: “The release of ‘Straight Edge’.”
“Minor Threat’s straight edge message made me realise that I didn’t have to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes in order to have things in common with people at school.
Though I’m not straight edge anymore, this band and their principals were a focal point for my group of high school friends. Straight edge gave us an identity, a sense of purpose and feeling that we could belong together if we didn’t belong anywhere else. The straight edge movement kept us safe and focused and it made my parents trust me which actually just gave me more of a license to go out and do dumb shit with my dudes.”
1990s
Defining band: Snapcase
Defining moment: “Getting their Looking Glass Self cassette tape.”
“Snapcase was from buffalo, so I grew up idolizing them. they were doing (so I thought) the things that dreams were made of but they walked on the earth like mortals. going to their shows and seeing the energy they created is what made me want to be in a band. without them I don’t know where I’d be.”
2000s
Defining band: Deftones
Defining moment: “Hearing the White Pony album.”
“For me, this record [White Pony] could have been the only record on earth. It’s all I listened to for years. it had everything in it that I ever wanted out of music- aggression, challenging lyrics and melodies. this was the blueprint I carried with me when I approached ETID songs.”
2010s
Defining band: Terror
Defining moment: “Playing With Full Force Festival.”
“This performance reaffirmed how important hardcore music is to me. I sadly admit that I had forgotten for a while. Nothing moved me anymore. But that day, Terror reinvigorated me and about 10,000 people in the crowd. It was a beautiful moment in my long relationship with music. I won’t forget it.”
Keith has also put together a Rdio playlist of the songs that have influenced him the most over his career, check it out here:
