| If you're interested in hardcore one name should have attracted
your attention: No Innocent Victim, aka NIV. This band released some albums through Rescue
Records some years ago but got signed to Victory Records. This resulted in a tour through
Europe with Agnostic Front and the US Bombs. That was the motive for me to do this E-mail
interview with drummer Jason Dunn. You have just returned
from a European tour, the Unity Tour, along with Agnostic Front and the US Bombs. I guess
it was your first tour in Europe. How was that experience?
Yeah it was our first tour in Europe and we had a great time. We are very fortunate
that we got to go with two great bands like AF and the US Bombs. We were able to
play pretty big shows everynight and we got to get our name out to a lot of people over
there in Europe. It was great to see all the different cities in the different
countries and experience all the culture and foods, etc...
As it comes to the shows, what are your best recollections and
what your worst?
We have had a lot of good shows so it is hard to narrow it down to the absolute best.
As far as the worst, we have played some really bad shows
before with no one there except for the other bands. There have been a
few of those on our first few US tours.
Did you share a tour-bus with the other bands or how did you travel
with them?
Yeah, we all traveled on one big bus. There was like 18 of us on board. It was a lot
of fun with that many people.
The latest NIV album Flesh & Blood seems to me as a really
straight forward and aggressive kind of hardcore with some metal influences. The music is
like pure energy which will be felt at concerts. On the NIV website I read a story about a
guy pulling a gun. Besides that, I guess that you, with the brutal hardcore you play, will
see fights at concerts. Is that true?
Actually the guy pulling the gun on us was on the way to a show. We were
going up to Oakland, CA to play with Powerhouse and some guy pulled up
next to us and pulled out a gun. As far as fights at shows, there are never really
too many while we are playing. It usually goes crazy on the floor as far as kids
having a good time, but it never gets out of control.
No Innocent Victim has never been shy to call themselves Christian.
That's clear in some of your lyrics. Do you see the band as a way to show a Christ-like
life and be a hardcore fanatic at the same time?
Yeah, the band is definitely a way to show people our beliefs and how we live as
Christians. We are just hardcore kids who love God and want to show that through the
music we play and the lyrics we sing.
There are always people who think you can't be real hardcore and
Christian at the same time. Do you see a change of attitude as it comes to the way people
think of NIV through the years and how is the influence of being signed to Victory
Records?
I think there has been some people who have changed their ideas about Christians being in
hardcore with us getting on Victory, but I don't really know. I don't really pay too
much attention to that stuff. I'm not going anywhere and I think it is stupid when people
think they can say who belongs and who doesn't. It's all stupid scene politics.
If I'm right, you're also involved with Facedown Records, a small
company that brought out CD's and vinyl records of Overcome and Born Blind. There are
already many labels so what are the reasons to start Facedown?
I just wanted to start the label to be more involved in hardcore than just being in a
band. The label can last longer than a band and it is a way for me to help other
bands and get out their music and message.
At last I have a question that might sound a bit silly, but looking
at the band pics I see the other band members being buried under tattoos. That's not so
obvious in your case. Are you not into that?
I have just never been into getting tattoos. I spend all of my
money on putting out CD's and stuff. The other guys get tattooed. |
