Feature / Music
Pass The Mic: Artists and 2007

Words: Michael • Posted pre-2010

Quick Links: Blacklisted, Bridge Nine Records, Bullet Treatment, Ceremony, Coalesce, Coliseum/Black Cross, Converge, Die Young (TX), Forensics, Fucked Up, Jena Berlin, Lemuria, New Idea Society, The Out Circuit, Oxbow, Pulling Teeth, Ready the Jet, Rise and Fall, Rosetta, Set Your Goals, Scouts Honor, Skin Like Iron, This Time Next Year, Tokyo Police Club

Pulling Teeth

Dom Romeo

Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?

  1. Frightener - Guillotine
  2. Ruiner - Prepare to Be Let Down
  3. Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs - You Cant Buy a Gun When You're Crying
  4. Surroundings - Monuments in Ruin
  5. Living Hell - The Lost and The Damned

Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)

Lots of great bands put out great releases and played a lot of shows. I know it sounds like a lame answer, but I pretty much spent my year at shows or listening to records.

Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?

Minimal. People who want to buy music will buy music. People who want to steal music are going to steal music.

Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?

None whatsoever. I've never even heard of those programs.

Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?

If I told you it would ruin the surprise.

Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?

Integrity's "The Blackest Curse," new Torche LP, and new Frightener LP.

Pulling Teeth

Mike Riley

Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?

  1. The Ergs - Upstairs/Downstairs
  2. Lifetime - Lifetime
  3. Tranzmitors - Tranzmitors
  4. Cloak/Dagger - We Are...
  5. The Vicious - Alienated

Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)

Seeing Ceremony at Sound and Fury Fest. Getting to be a part of The Blackest Curse show. Starting a new label (Toxic Pop) and getting to release a single for The Ergs. Getting to see Jay Retard live. Losing my iPod right before the Pulling Teeth Fall tour and having a friend give me one for free. Toys That Kill's set at The Fest in Gainesville.

Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?

Only established artists like these two are able to do something like this and still be able to live off of it. Even if the average price paid for a record is $1, that's still about a million dollars the band will be making off the record. I doubt this will catch on within the independent arena.

Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?

There will always be messageboards and Sendspace type sites and instant messenger programs so file-sharing will never go away. The record industry needs to realize that they are not in control of this ship and they need to accept the new technologies and adapt to the world we live in. People don't want to pay $15 - $18 for a CD with a couple of good songs on it, so of course they're going to download it. I'm not in front of a computer enough to use file-sharing programs and I don't make music to make a living off of it so this all has little effect on me personally.

Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?

A full US tour with a Japan trip in the middle in the spring and a European trip in the fall. We'll also work on some new stuff and maybe have another release out or at least recorded by the end of the year.

Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?

Paint it Black, Cold World, and Sick Sick Birds full-lengths.

Homepage: http://www.pullingteethmd.com

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