Chuck Hickey Singer for Black SS, We The People, and just a rad fucking dude.

Chuck is 100% real. Our first actual talking encounter was us yelling at each other and being on opposite sides of an argument. Since then everything has been great and we have a very loving and supportive relationship. The fact of the matter is this, Chuck is a lifer and knows a thing or two about a hell of a lot going on in this Punk world we live in(along with other shit as well). We have bonded over the years for our love of RPG's, comics, and hardcore/punk of course. I don't see this guy enough and when I do see him it's never enough time to totally catch up. One day we will start that campaign and get real with our 20 sided dice. But for now listen to what knowledge my good friend and fellow Wyld Punx has to say. Oh yeah Chuck sings in the best Straight Edge band going right now called Black SS check them out if your not dumb.

1. I know it hasn't happened in awhile for you, but at this state what do you look forward to about tour if anything?

Getting to hang out with the rest of the guys in the band and seeing my friends in other towns. I rarely get to see Dan, Mike and Steve since they are all grown ups now. I'm perpetually 16 years old in my development as a contributing member of society, but those dudes all have heavy commitments. Tour is the only time I get to hang with my best friends when I don't feel like the hang is going to get cut short. Also, over the years I've made some solid friendships with people in various cities and it's always nice to get quality time with them.

2. Do you think kid's have become spoiled with touring band's playing so many cities that the kids don't travel to shows anymore?

I don't know. There seems to be a massive amount of spoiled little shits running around but I'm not sure if that is because the bigger bands hit every town. I think a more likely reason is there are just too many bands touring currently. I honestly think that a band should take appropriate steps before deciding to force themselves and their "art" on an unwitting populace. Bob Suren's piece, "Turd Bands Stay Home" sums it up nicely. Here's a link:

http://www.havocrex.com/press/article/1/101
Here's an idea for you, my friend, since you are an open and uncloseted Grateful Dead loving hippie; We should convince kids to NOT start bands and just follow their favorite bands on tour all summer long. It's not like it's going to cost them much more since their crap band wasn't going to get paid anyway. And it's not like they were going to get laid as a reward for covering "Filler" to a roomful of apathetic soon-to-be-ex-straightedge hipsters, right? Everyone is in a fucking band nowadays so on the offset chance that there is a legal girl in the room, she probably sings for a band that is better than theirs and is not even remotely impressed.

3. What is your favorite pasttime while in the van if you aren't sleeping? If it's reading, what comic series is the tour go to and what nerd series is the go to? If it's music what's your top three choices?

I usually over pack when it comes to comics, books and dvds. My usual BSS road trip experience looks something like this: Several hours of Wrestling shoot videos watched/listened to by the whole van until my eyes and brain start to melt. Next, I try to read a comic or book while listening to Goblin or John Carpenter soundtracks until I'm inevitably drawn to some vile shit talking with the boys. We never really get to vent about shit that pisses us off until we're in the van, I think.
Some of the things that have passed the time on recent trips are:
Novels: The Change series by S.M. Stirling and the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Comics: DMZ, The Unknown Soldier, Solomon Kane, Iron Fist
Music: Death in June, Killing Joke, Naked Raygun, The Shangri-Las, The Fugs

4. You've seen many points of view from being on tour and working at clubs, what is one of the brattiest thing's you've seen some band pull?

The all time brattiest shit I've seen, and I've witnessed it multiple times, is when a band berates the crowd for not dancing. How are there so many kids with this feeling of entitlement? I wish people would understand that no one owes them a goddamn thing. Probably the worst example of this was a show in Buffalo with The Murder City Devils, International Noise Conspiracy and At the Drive In. EVERY one of them accosted the crowd for not moving around, until ATDI played, who then got all pissy because kids WERE moving around. What a bunch of clowns. On the other end of the spectrum was a show in Connecticut where the local opener was calling the crowd pussies and faggots for not "showing them what we've got". The sound of the collective Hit The Lights/BSS face palm was deafening. Especially since we were 60% of the crowd. As a bouncer, I seem to have blocked all of the ridiculous shit I've seen perpetrated by mouth breathers in cover bands.

5. What show comes into your mind when you think of " Wow, I didn't expect that!" You know the show you show up to and you get kind of bummed, but then all of a sudden things come together and it turns out to be an awesome show. The more detailed the better.

There are many to choose from but here's one. We the People only went on one tour and we somehow broke even. Mostly because of this one show. It was in Pittsburgh and we'd broken a strut on the van on the way into town and stopped to get it repaired. Up until that moment, we had done alright money-wise but now we were a little trepidatious. That feeling doubled as we rolled into town when we noticed a flyer for Caustic Christ's record release show. It had today's date on it. With empty pockets, we sadly realized we were playing a conflicting show against a popular local band's record release.

Next, we get to the back alley punk house who's basement we'll be playing and everything gets weird. The dudes who live in the house are a small group of crusty/street punk kids and are all eerily nice. Nicer than any humans I've ever met in a dilapidated punk house, certainly. It turns out that one dude who lives in the house is the opening act and the other guys are the closing act. These friendly fellows plus 2 of their friends are the entirety of the attendees. As we are loading stuff in, I start looking around at the decor and the fashion accessories that adorn the house and it's occupants. It dawns on me that there is a discomforting amount of Christian imagery on the walls, patches and tattoos of our hosts. At this point, my mind begins to twist as I try to come up with a origin story for the convergence of dingy punk and happy shiny Christianity. Those worlds are diametrically opposed in my brain. I've met plenty of punks and HC kids who identify as christian but none who wove it so seamlessly in with a gutter punk lifestyle. I think I was most impressed by the Jesus-fish-as-NYHC-style-x that was all over the place. It was as if we'd stumbled into that scene from Another State of Mind with the christian youth hostel except this wasn't staged.
The evening starts with the one man band making some kind of noise gumbo with a computer or something. I utterly hate this kind of thing. I have seen an embarrassing amount of below average artists forgo the creation of actual music to make some kind of "point" by shunning the stifling straightjacket of melody. These creative cowards should be forced to snort a pulverized Einsturzende Neubauten record through a Taco Bell straw to remind them how vital they are not. The statement was made 30 years ago and does not need updating. This is a slice of the mood I was in that evening.
If memory serves, we played next. I never really care if there are people to see my bands or not and I think that my band mates echo that sentiment. We all love our songs and we love playing them to none, few or many. So, we had a blast and everyone there seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves and were stoked to have us. After we loaded out, various guys from the house chatted with us and wanted to buy merch. All of them bought at least a shirt and cd but refused to pay the asking price. They would only buy the stuff if we let them WAY over pay for it. They were each giving us $40, $50 or $60 for what would usually cost about $12-$15. They would have it no other way. I thought that maybe they were stuck in some kind of Christian-duty brainwash loop but a more likely explanation is that they know what it's like to be on tour and feel like shit is falling apart. It was a truly humbling experience for me. I was forced to chip away at my own discriminatory views of Christian punks and admit that these guys "get it". They were clearly guys who were motivated by their religious views but that's not the be-all and end-all of their personalities. They didn't bring any of that stuff up and just treated us like fellow punks who play because they mean it.
Their band, The Last Hope, ended the night and they played a hell of a set. It was a pretty fantastic night for us. We had made our lost money back and we met some genuine, nice people who had changed our perspectives while helping us out. After that show, I have made a conscious effort to help deserving touring bands out a lot more than I used. It feels good to go above and beyond every once in a while.

200% Wyld Punx

FUCK!

Being on tour when something bad happens to your family really fucking sucks. You feel alone, distant, and overall just lost. As much as you love your friends they can't comfort you as much as being surrounded by your family when something tragic happens. I'm an open book most of the time when it comes to whats on my mind, I try not to hide to much when it comes to getting things out of my head, it feels a lot better t get thing's out. Most of my friends know that at this point about me, so sometimes things happen you have no control over.

I woke up in Jacksonville, Fl on the Nov. 29th with a voicemail from my parent's on my phone. I had a funny feeling about it, because I talked to them the day before. So I called right away knowing from the sound of my dad's voice on the message that this was not going to be good. My mom answered the phone and I instantly felt my stomach drop without her even telling me what was wrong, I just knew something was bad by the tone of her voice. So I asked what was going on and she told me, my mouth dropped and the only thing I could think or feel was FUCK! I was shocked, appalled, angry, sad, I felt so many thing's instantly and had no where to go with it. I was still in my sleeping bag on a pull out couch surrounded by people trying to take a shower. I hung up the phone and just pulled my whole body into my sleeping bag and just start balling. My mom just told me that my cousin John, his wife Susan, and kids Aiden (8), Gracie (5) were killed in a car accident coming home from a Thanksgiving trip. My mind was blown, still is and I can't do anything about it. Being home with my family would feel very comforting even though I wouldn't be able to be in California for the services and my cousin 19 year old cousin Molly who is the sole survivor of the family. My heart goes out to her, I can't even begin to know how she is feeling right now. So fast forward to tonight when I get a phone call from my cousin Cooper tonight with even more upsetting news. Apparently a couple decided to break into John and Susan's home late last night and steal their car, and other posses ions. This just infuriates me to no end. They saw the news and decided to find the house and break into their house and steal everything. In one way I shouldn't be surprised, but honestly I'm floored. Just when you're trying to get your head on semi straight this news comes in. On top of it all I also find out that the 19 yr. old kid who killed my family previously had his license suspended for a DUI. He was 19 and already had a DUI and was driving a brand new mini cooper. It's just so much intense shit to think about. My mind is swimming in all of this and I just feel so frustrated about it all.

For now i just have to keep pushing on and know that I'll be home soon and will be able to see my family then. I know I can't be there now and even if I was it wouldn't make that much of a difference because I can't be in California. It would just be comforting for myself. Times like this really make you feel connected and loved and I truly appreciate that, but it bums me out that these things have to happen in order for these feelings to take on their full sentiment. So now I'm in a random motel 8 spilling my guts to an extent, why? I want to and feel some need to, I don't know really. I'm not trying to gather sympathy or anything of that nature, I guess I just want to make people think about the disconnect we face in our lives, whether we are on tour or not. Please hold your loved ones close and value the people close to you. Life is fragile.

Day #8, Drive Wyoming

Day # 7 (night), Denver, CO

Genie Vocalist of Gather

I met Genie from going to shows/ being on tour throughout 2008/09, we've kept in touch and I'm excited to be friends with a person who has so much passion and energy. We never really get to hangout much in person due to always just being at a show, but the ideas and reasons transcend a show, so we've kept in touch. Sometimes you just feel really comfortable with certain people and you feel like communication is just there Genie is one of those people so I decided to ask her some questions about getting in that van.

1. Biggest thing you stress about while you are on tour and why?

I’m going to answer these questions based on my experience singing in Gather since my new band hasn’t done too much touring really.

Losing my voice was the biggest source of stress on tour. I developed vocal cord nodules a little before going to Europe in 2006 and I lost my voice after day two of a month long tour there and have never recovered since. At some shows I made our bassist, Randy, sing for us. Other shows I faked it the whole time and didn’t even sing into the mic, and often I couldn’t talk at all after shows which was really isolating because on tour I love meeting new people and talking to them! It still bums me out to no end that I have such problems when I attempt to sing or even talk now. So now I’m playing guitar, and it’s so much less stressful except for the part about me not knowing shit about guitar.

2. Personal space is limited on tour, being stuck in a van for hours at a time, and then having to be at a venue, housing with the same people for durations of time, what are some situation's that have risen from these constant surroundings and how do you deal with them?

For the MOST part, we’re all very close so we got along on tour and it wasn’t a big problem. But there were definitely times I got annoyed, like when Randy would wear super short shorts with no underwear and try to climb into the loft above me, oblivious that his balls were in my face, having not showered for days… Or when we toured with 7 Generations and Chris (singer of 7G) and my brother (drummer of Gather) almost got into a fist fight over bathroom breaks and Chris yelled at me when I tried to calm them down... Times like that made cringe when I’d count how many days we still had left on tour. But I’d just bust out a book and remind everyone that they couldn’t talk to me because I was trying to save my voice. That gave me a little “alone time.” And of course, each night when we’d play, no matter how many or few people there were, it was always such a great release so each day was like a fresh start.

3. What is/was the most important reason for touring for you personally?

One of the main reasons Gather started was so that we could help keep hardcore radical and spread awareness of things like animal, earth and human liberation, anarchy, and feminism. Touring was the best way for us to do that. We met so many inspirational people by touring too, so it was about learning from others as well. Personally, touring helped me overcome my intense shyness. I think it really helped me not give a fuck about some of my insecurities so that was a bonus.

4. How do you try and stay healthy while you are on tour?

Tour food is the worst--it’s hard to eat healthy on tour. Years later, I still can’t bring myself to eat a Builder Bar (or any food in bar-form really) and that was one of the things I said I could eat for the rest of my life. We didn’t resort to fast food thankfully. We would hit up grocery stores instead. I tried to eat mostly raw on one tour, but I just got gnarly diarrhea from detoxing, so that backfired. Dustin would always bring lots of supplements, but I hated swallowing pills, so that was no good either! I just tried to eat as many fruits and veggies as I could, and drink lots of water and tea after shows. I probably got sick a couple times, but mostly my problems were just with my voice from screaming.

5. What kind of connections and disconnections have you made from touring?

Some of my very best friends I have now I met from touring or bonded with the most from touring so I’ll always be thankful for that. Whenever I’m in one place too long and feel like I’m not meeting any people who challenge or inspire me, I know that touring would cure that. It’s just so nice to know that each night you’ll be in a room with people who are seeking the same thing, who are somewhat like-minded and appreciate that sense of community that the DIY punk and hardcore scene can offer. At the same time, you meet so many acquaintances that sometimes it seems like the bonds you make might be really superficial. But either way, they’re way less superficial than the bonds you make with normies that you meet at work, or at a club or some bullshit.

Day #7, Lincoln, Ne

Day #3 Cleveland , Oh @Now That's Class