This was a great tour that I fucking missed because a bunch of stupid shit went down at my fucking jobs, forcing me to fucking work. I'm a little disheartened over missing such great and true bands like Paint it Black and Stike Anywhere. From Ashes Rise is another one of those true bands that lines out Jade Tree's great hardcore/punk rock roster. James took the helm of the interview, but the questions were all mine.

PL: State your name and what you do in the band.

JW: My name is John Wilkerson and I play guitar and sing.

PL: Oregon has a pretty good hardcore scene going on. Describe the scene as you see fit and feel free to talk about some up and coming bands as well.

JW: Portland in particular that I know has a really diverse and crazy scene because you have every facet of hardcore and punk there. You have the kind of spiky punk crowd, with bands like Assassinate, which is like crazy and insane. And then you have a really cool kind of rock and roll punk scene that still plays the same shows; bands like The Triggers and Honches. And then you have Tragedy, From Ashes Rise, Hellshot. And then there's another kind of straight up metal scene. Its just crazy because almost every night in Portland, there's some kind of D.I.Y. house show or even Club Joe or shit like that. Its so crazy because the city's set up and a lot of people don't go into certain neighborhoods because there's something going on in Northeast Portland; something else going on somewhere else. Its strange because its one of the biggest scenes and then there's a hardcore, more youth crew hardcore scene which I don't know that much about. There's just so much fucking shit going on.

Its one of those things where kids started coming to our shows and they've never heard us before, and they're like: "yeah, you want to come play some different shows." We're like 'hell yeah, that'd be great;' play some different shows because kids that may not even know that they'd like us would get a chance to hear us.

(this brings up talks of Tragedy playing and us not knowing about it until it had already sold out)

PL: What are your expectations for this tour?

JW: I knew that we would play to a lot of people that have never heard us and would be really confused. A lot of people have heard us now because of Jade Tree, but last night we played in New Jersey and there were a lot of floor punks and kids making fun of us, which is fine; you know that not everybody's going to like you, but its strange going from a scene where everybody knows who you are where they'll either be like 'Yeah, this is great,'or 'This isn't tough enough,' so I knew that there would be some totally open ears and just some people who just don't give a shit, but I love Strike Anywhere, Paint it Black and Challenger, so my expectations are being completely fufilled. Everything's been rad as hell. The shows have been amazing. Nothing's gone wrong. Its just strange playing to some crazed people that aren't even into hardcore. Its cool.

PL: Do you guys have voter registration on this tour?

JW: Yeah, they set up a booth. Its kind of interesting because we didn't even know that it was going to be affiliated with Punk Voter at first. But, when we found out about it, we just...even Noam Chomsky was talking about how, if you've got to vote, this is the time to do it. Its the lesser of two evils. And not that we completely support voting or that it will completely change something, but George Bush is an evil motherfucker. Every 18 or 19 year old kid has some sort of interest in politics. Maybe they'll go out and read a book that has something to do with right or left. In some ways, we kind of straddle the fence on that. And there's some other independent stuff thats punk oriented on voting and stuff. At first we didn't know. I think that, this time, if anybody would vote, this would be the time because George Bush is talking about segragation of schools, not race but based on sex. And he's talking about drafts, which is scary shit because I've got a 17 year old brother that I don't want to see belong to this.

PL: Would you rather see a high voter turnout with your candidate losing or a low voter turnout with your candidate winning?

JW: I don't know; I just want Bush to lose, and I want it to be by a margin of just massive amounts. And I don't support John Kerry at all; they both went to Yale, they both were part of a secret organization for rich kids that come from wealth, but in the last election, Bush wasn't even voted in by the populace, so I would love to see a landslide.

PL: How important is voting in America?

JW: (in the background, I hear someone who sounds like Andy from Paint it Black talking about someone putting a cigarette in some kid's eye) Its really strange because, when I grew up, my parents all voted. My father was the head of the Republican Party, and the county I lived in, in a small town in Mississippi, and we used to get signed pictures from Ronald Reagen and Christmas cards and stuff like that. So they really, when I was young, pushed the idea of voting on me, like this is gonna change things. But as I've gotten older, I don't neccessarily agree to voting all of the time because sometimes you don't get to control what you get to vote on. Its only done through the Senate and its not done on the street level where people are actually voting; representatives do that. Its kind of weird because I straddle the fence. I think on a more local level, its really important for things that affect the city. People will go out if there's a proposition to cut school funding within a county. Something like that is more aggressive; you can go out and you can vote for that and thats the means to an end, but when it gets marred by political stuff and stepping stones, then its a lot harder and you don't see any difference, so a lot of times, you're just pissing away a vote.

PL: Do you think that the voting age is fine the way it is or should it be lowered to 16?

JW: There's not so much of a difference. I think that its one of those things where, I don't know what kind of a difference that would make. I don't know how interested people would be at 16 to really go and get involved in politics. Most of your average American kids don't give two craps on it. They want to learn about television or Abercrombie and Fitch or whatever. Its a good idea to keep everybody in perspective, but I don't know how much 16 year olds really know at this point. Not that I have that much of a clue, but I have a younger brother and I don't know how responsible they are with voting. But, I don't know, give it a show. At least its something that could be done. For all its worth, in the last hundred years in this country, women have become able to vote and so have black people, so maybe the youth should have some sort of power.

PL: You guys recently played the Pink Rabbit, which has since got shut down, the last time you were in this area. Is there a difference between playing more D.I.Y. oriented shows as opposed to packaged tours at better known clubs?

JW: Huge difference. On a D.I.Y. circuit, its so closely knit and, at this point, From Ashes Rise knows most of the people who do D.I.Y. shows. So its a huge difference. That place we played in Providence, it was amazing because it was this really cool place that had all kind of shit going on; different spaces, different collectives. So, it was really rad it because it was really a community type deal. And tours like this one, which has become; I guess we've kind of gotten a lot of shit because it is kind of a packaged tour; but, we're kind of friends with all the bands, so its kind of strange to be like, well. Its not like we walked up on the first day and were like "hey, who are you?" We knew everybody, but D.I.Y. shows have an immense opportunity. I've done them for so long and some of them were so fucking amazing, but then others, people don't put into consideration paying bands who play shows or not having microphones and stuff like that, which is kind of frustrating when you drive nine hours and you're singing out of a small amp. Sometimes thats cool because the energy is still there and you're playing in a basement. And some of the rock clubs are hit or miss too because they can be really cool and the people that do them are really cool and its not a total business gig, but then other times, its like 'fuck this, this is stupid.' But, basically we know the kids are coming to see Strike Anywhere and we're friends of theirs and they asked us to tour with them. Some people have given them shit for not playing regular places and playing towns, but they can't fit there or else they would. Its a fine line between the politics of D.I.Y. and club shows, but we played D.I.Y. shows out to meet this tour and a few shows when we get back, so we got the best of both worlds.

PL: Do you ever see yourself playing a genre of music that isn't hardcore or punk?

JW: Yeah, but I'd never be good at it because I'm too old to start doing it. I'm really into Bluegrass and Country music and Jazz and Delta Mississippi Blues because, while I was growing up, I grew up in Mississippi and I didn't give two shits about the Blues, but as I got older, I really got into it. But, I don't think I could do it. All I can do is punk. When you spend 15 years listening to it, thats what'll come out. No matter what you do, its gonna sound like punk.

PL: Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to music?

JW: No, not at all. I listen to everything from Ornate Coleman Goblin to the Misfits. I don't really listen to too much pop music. Queens of the Stone Age are probably my guiltiest pleasure. There's nothing that I'm terribly ashamed of. I love Michael Jackson's Thriller and I listen to that. But I don't have a Village People record.

PL: This question comes courtsey of Andy from Paint it Black. Whats your favorite Billy Ocean record?

JW: Oh, God, man, I can't even think of the name of it. Its the one thats kind of an airbrush painting of him smiling and its white, like the border is white, and I don't know what the heck its called. Thats amazing; I guess thats a guilty pleasure. And I guess Michael McDonald, Billy Ocean and Steely Dan; thats the crap that should not be listened to that I listen to. Thats the worst shit I listen to.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

JW: I don't know. If people think we're posers, then this is our pose. We've been doing it a long time and I know a lot of people that changed their mind about us based on this tour which is simply ridiculous. If they ever look at our van; its broken down outside as we speak with a dead battery. We just love punk.