Bane may be one of the most important hardcore bands of our time. They've been around for what seems forever, and they're still kicking ass with the release of "The Note." This interview was conducted with bassist Pete at their record release (one of many that they had) at the ICC Church in Allston, MA on May 28.

PL: Introduce yourself.

BANE: My name is Pete and I play bass in Bane.

PL: I read somewhere that Aaron (Bedard) said that "Swan Song" may be the last Bane song written. Did all of you guys think that this might be your last album?

BANE: I don't think it was a conscious decision that this is definitely gonna be the last song. Its just like realistically thinking about it, especially if it takes us four years to write another record. Who knows what we're gonna be doing in four years. I don't think we sat down and said that we should write this as our last song. Actually, it was a song that we started at one practice and was written over the course of a period, so it wasn't like sitting down and writing specifically the last song. I think he just says that because we don't know the future, but we don't have any plans to break up. I think he likes to have a little drama.

PL: How was the writing and recording process different with the new drummer, or was it different?

BANE: It was definitely different. Nick knows what he wants right away, whereas Bobby really has to go over stuff and rethink it. We record a lot of stuff first, he'll listen to it, and then he'll rewrite his parts, which we never really did before. We never had that kind of luxery before, but on this record, we kind of did, so we were demoing stuff early last year, and then talking about it and changing parts and redoing songs. So that was the major difference. He's just real excited about playing and playing with Bane. He's always been a Bane fan, so it was really an inspiring writing session.

PL: When you guys demo songs, do you go to a studio?

BANE: We have a friend who has a Pro Tools portable rig. One time, we went to his friend's house where they had all his stuff set up, and one time he brought it to our practice space and miked everything up and we recorded it. Price-wise, we did six songs and it cost about $400. That was pretty cheap for a decent recording, and then the computers can get a good quality from very little.

PL: Was it hard to keep people interested in the band without having new material for four years?

BANE: We didn't try. It wasn't something that we were consciously trying to keep kids excited about. We always did what we wanted to do. We took a break and we toured excessively. We tried to hit a place twice a year, at least, and we hoped that that kept the interest up. But, thats one of the reasons why we knew we had to write a new record, because if we were still serious about doing the band, kids aren't gonna be psyched to come out to Bane shows much longer, so we needed to have some new stuff to play and for kids to be psyched about. I think its a different time from when Give Blood came out. The size of the hardcore scene is much bigger now. I think we had to put a record out just to stay relevant, and we knew that. We never had plans to not put a record out. Shit gets in the way. It always gets put off, and we were like "finally, we have to do this." It took us a year, but we did it.

PL: As you've gotten oler, do you find yourself getting tired much earlier than usual?

BANE: Definitely. Its no big thing for me to get up at 6 a.m. anymore. I actually just moved, so I have a two hour commute to work, so I have to get up real early. Now, I'm just so used to it that, even without an alarm clock, I still get up at 7:30. These shows have been so late. We played in Burlington last night, and the show finished at 11:30, and it was about midnight by the time we got out of there. I drove home, and I was just so tired. It was no good. And then I just get up at 8 in the morning anyways.

PL: When you wake up, are you still tired? I am.

BANE: Yeah. With work and stuff, I've been trying to get to bed a little earlier, but its almost impossible for me to go to bed before 11:30, but I still get up early. Right now, its been so busy with the record coming out that I've been burning the candle at both ends.

PL: I'm glad to know that its not just me.

BANE: How old are you?

PL: I'm turing 25 next month.

BANE: I just turned 28 last month. It gets worse.

PL: Do you think people can identify more with bands that are honest and sincere?

BANE: I don't know. How many MTV bands seem really sincere that sell millions of records? I don't think that many. Maybe a few. I think it definitely makes bands stand out. It depends on what people are listening to that music for. Obviously, you don't care whether Sugar Ray is honest or whatever, its just sugary pop stuff; you don't care what they do. Its not music that is important to you, its music to fill time. I think, in the hardcore scene, its different than out there. And I think that the bands that are honest within the hardcore scene rise to the top. Look at Suicide File. They're huge now, and I feel that they are one of the most honest and straightforward guys out there. I think its not necessary, and it doesn't necessarily mean that kids will love it, but I think that it makes bands stand out.

PL: Rank the following in the order of importance: friends, family, fun, money and work.

BANE: Work is least important, thats for sure. It depends on what kind of work. Doing this band is a lot of work, but its not really work. Its a lot of decision making and very time consuming. Friends and family, for me, are interswappable. My family is real close, so I'd probably put them first. My wife is my whole world right now. My friends-I'm in this band-thats one of the biggest reasons that I'm in this band; to hang out with these guys. Fun is next, money would be fourth and work would be last for sure. Money is not that important to me.

PL: State a little known fact about Massachusetts.

BANE: Bane is always described as being from Boston, but no one actually lives in Boston. I don't know if thats about Massachusetts.

PL: Its close enough.

PL: Whats one movie everybody should go see?

BANE: "The Incredibles" is really good. I just bought the Criterion Collection of "The Life Aquatic," which is a Wes Anderson film. I've only watched it once, and as soon as it ended, I was like "I need to watch it again." I think its a great movie.

PL: I've heard good and bad things about that.

BANE: At first, I thought that it was really strange and didn't seem like a Wes Anderson film. It was like "Rushmore" but really unlike "Rushmore" as well, but at the end of it and after I thought about it a lot, I liked it a lot, so don't give up on that one.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you feel all kids should have in their collection.

BANE: Hardcore album?

PL: Any album.

BANE: I'll do hardcore, and I'll say Inside Out No Spiritual Surrender. And for any album, I was gonna say O.K. Computer by Radiohead. Thats a great record, but I don't know if its important for everyone to have. I don't know. I think maybe Inside Out everyone should have.

PL: Do you have any final commments?

BANE: Thanks. Thanks for doing this. Thanks to EVR (Equal Vision); they've been really great to us. We appreciate it.

Written by: RF
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