-What factors have led to Mushmouth/Out To Win reuniting in January of 2009?

Well we really never broke up, we just sorta stopped playing. We did the "last show" thing a few years back, we played with Earth Crisis in Baltimore, and there we said that we would pop up here and there.

For the show on the 10th however, it's a date where we have a get together with the crew.




Maybe 3 times a year we try to get together and have food, and a good time, and we will book a show around the get together. This year we rented out a spot for the get together and it happened to be in Allentown. Allentown isn't too far from Reading, Pa. so right off the bat a lot of people were saying "get Mushmouth for this show" so we said fuck it, lets do it.

-You were depicted in the liner notes of Mushmouth’s debut album “Out To Win” yet not listed as part of the band’s roster. When did you first become involved with the guys?

Well I was in the band before our first CD came out, but right around the time of that release something came up in my life and I had to split out and head down south. I lived with Mad Joe (Wisdom in Chains, Boxcutter) at the time, so I asked if he would take my spot in the band. I taught him all the stuff before I moved so the band wouldn't skip a beat. So the band was in sort of a dilemma, we left the band pic like it was with me in there, but Ii didn't want my name in there. I was a little bit paranoid at the time. So after that release came out, I headed down south for a bit, and Joe took over for me on bass.

-Out To Win once printed a shirt with the slogan “Ruining shows since 1995” on the front. Henzel has also referred to the band as being the most hated. What factors led to you gaining this reputation?

Well we had an unfortunate steady run of violence at our shows. Not so much the band members, but when we would start to play, people would just transform into demonic versions of themselves, it was really crazy. So with the regular violence at shows came critics who would have plenty to say about how the band is not wanted. So the fights along with the band’s antics at shows, like our guitar player being drunk to the point of puking off the side of the stage for a whole set while feedback rings out during entire songs. Or just being so unorganized there would be shows that we would just never get to. So many stories, and a lot I have to admit in fact contributed to being marked "the most hated," but while some people ended up hating us for the events, others loved it all.

-Can you recount a few memorable, x-rated, peaceful, or threatening situations that occurred during Mushmouth’s early days?

There are so many, one had to do with our first attempt at getting into Canada, let’s just say that didn't work out well. We rolled to the border thinking we had a flawless plan, only to realize they were not letting us in under any circumstances.




Myself and Chris Mahmood were enraged and we verbally started attacking the border agents. They decided to react by destroying our van and ripping it apart.

There was a time when we made a seven-hour trip to play in Pittsburgh, only for our drummer at the time to decide to attack our roadie Ian. Our drummer Phil was a bit drunk, and Mahmood thought it would be funny to burn him with a lighter while he dipped in and out of reality. He would wake up here and there and scream to stop. Mahmood convinced Ian to burn him one time as well, Ian really didn't want to, but he did it anyway. This last time was perfect, it made Phil wake up and go crazy, attacking poor Ian in a friend’s living room destroying furniture and lamps. It was bad, we drove all that way, only to turn around and head home because our bitch-ass drummer refused to play the show. This is the same guy who would get naked when he saw car washes, go to the vacuum machines, put coins in, and let the long vacuum hose suck on his ass while he pretended he was surfing. In my mind he had to go.

Then there were just so many beefs, usually involving girls, don't wanna get into names and specifics about that. I really could go on and on

-As a longtime Mushmouth fan, I must say I was somewhat disappointed that the band was forced to change its name to Out To Win. At the time the band was being pressured to change it, I contacted the psychedelic band of the same name who I thought were the ones pressuring you legally, and I told them their band was horrible, to which they replied that you, the hardcore band, were one of the worst bands they had ever heard and don’t deserve the name. Was this the reason for the name change? Can you recount the story of this just to set the record straight?




Well at the time of the name change a few different things were going on. We did get contacted by another band named Mushmouth, I think this band was somehow connected with the US Soccer team in the Olympics at the time. The singer was the goalie for the team, or something like that. Anyway, they talked about some legal mumbo jumbo that we had to change it. At the same time Jamey from Hatebreed was sort of interested in the band and helping us out to a degree and he hated the name and really wanted us to change it for our next record. We really didn't sweat it either way, but the legal hassle was getting bigger and bigger, so we just changed it, but we wanted to make sure people understood it was the same band, so we named it Out To Win, the title of our first full-length.




-There seemed to have been a drastic change in guitar sound between “Persist & Destroy” and “Beg For Life.” It seemed like the songwriting shifted from a heavy death/thrash riff approach to a more old-school, bouncy, Terror-type feel. Was this intentional?

Well, there is a difference between those two releases. The biggest difference I heard was the drumming, we had a different drummer by the time we did "Beg For Life". Also "Beg For Life" was a full-length, where "Persist and Destroy" was more of a mini release. I loved the song "In a Perfect World," to this day still my favorite song by the band, definitely more of a metal edge to it. But I didn't find the difference between the two releases that drastic, if it was it wasn't intentional.




I know one thing we did do that was intentional was to make the songs shorter. Our singer Henzel was having some problems keeping his breath for some of the longer tracks. When we played live there where occasions where he would just drop to his knees and wave "no more, no more" like James Brown. He didn't live the healthiest lifestyle. But when I think of "Beg For Life" I do recall a lot of more metal influenced style songs, like "Angels vs. Demons" and some others.

-Now let’s get real. Our site boasts a conspiracy video column where we link media that people could find eye-opening, and ideally provoke some kind of critical thought about the world they live in. Do you believe in conspiracies? Which ones are the most pressing or interesting to you?

The craziest conspiracy theory I heard was that some guy in a cave in Afghanistan performed the most elaborate terrorist attack in our time, and he took down the World Trade Center buildings and made the US Air force stand down and watch. That’s a theory that is very hard to believe, but now it has become the "fact" of what happened. I think it's bullshit, I feel the United States government was involved with this. It's funny how when we talk about history, maybe something like Pearl Harbor we will say "Oh yeah, the government knew that the Japanese where gonna attack Pearl Harbor, but we let it happen to get involved in the war" and everyone is like "yeah yeah, of course". But when we talk about those types of things happening in the time that we live in, well then people get scared, and they don't want to believe it. It's a defense mechanism, but to get to your questions...I feel 9/11 was an inside job, I feel that there is an agenda by big bankers and the elite of the world to try and make a one world government. I believe that, for the most part, there is a common bloodline between North American and European leaders throughout history.




-Nowadays, it seems like more and more people in hardcore are pro-gun and generally supportive of certain right-wing laws and values. Do you find this to be happening at all? Where do you stand on the gun issue?

Well being the person I am, and not having very much trust for the leaders of my country, yes I am pro-gun. I feel it's our right to own and have guns. And I think some of our early leaders knew the possibility of our government turning on us and the necessity for us to be armed in case this happens. Sort of to keep the playing field level.

-What got you started into straight-edge? How have you maintained it all these years and what does it represent for you?




I have been SxE my whole life, I never drank or did any drugs or smoked or anything, so I was SxE before I knew there was a movement. I just always found that lifestyle stupid, and me being the paranoid person I am I would never trust anyone around me while I was in that state, being drunk or high. What it represents to me is simple, pure discipline. Like when we talk about football, it’s like the player who stays on the field and plays through injury, and plays offense and defense and never stops. Getting drunk and getting high, this is like taking a timeout from the game, but it's more like a timeout from reality, and I don't do that. I am always aware and I give my friends someone they can count on 24 hours a day.




-You depict the U.S. flag upside down on your Myspace profile, and have the following text below it.




“The upside down U.S. flag is an official signal of distress. It is not meant to be, and is not officially recognized as any type of disrespect when so displayed for the right reasons. To the contrary, here is the relevant part of the US Code of Laws regarding how to fly the flag when in distress: THE FLAG CODE Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10 As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress Approved July 7, 1976 § 176. Respect for flag: No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thi ng. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor. (a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property. Most individuals who have served in the military service of our nation will (or should) recognize this signal. As a result of the many traitors and enemies we as a free people have, both foreign and domestic, as a result of the many unconstitutional acts, legislation and atrocities passed and/or committed against US citizens and their life, liberty and property, and as a result of policies that have allowed (and continue to allow) enemies of this nation to enter in large numbers through a porous border policy, I believe the life, liberty and property of US Citizens are in dire danger and distress.”




-What do you believe to have been some of the most flagrant unconstitutional acts committed by the U.S. government, whether in our generation or the ones before ours?

Well some of the bullshit we pulled on the American Indians was horrible, complete trickery. The Federal Reserve in I think 1913, the 3rd time was a charm, gave away the right to print money to a private bank. The Vietnamese War was just so fucked up, 58,000 Americans, 1 million Vietnamese killed so that their country wouldn’t turn communist, wow, glad we made that sacrifice. September 11th 2001, 3000 Americans killed in a false flag attack so we can get our nation to cooperate while our ruthless leaders move forward with their agenda to change laws and convince us to turn a blind eye so they can deal with the problem at hand. The War in Iraq, sending my brothers and sisters there to fight kill and die so we can give huge accounts to elite companies to go there and prosper.




-With Obama now leading the country, what kind of change do you think he will bring? Do you consider him a puppet for a shadow government or actually a man of integrity who can bring the change people want to see?

I don't know what he is or where he came from, outside of him being Dick Cheney’s cousin, and sharing that bloodline, I don't know about this guy. I didn't vote for him, knowing what I know I couldn't, but I am glad Americans voted for him. The average American knows nothing about the things I am taking about, so they feel they did the right thing, and with the mainstream media and the information that was offered by them, they did do the right thing.

-Why do you think so many U.S. citizens voted Republican? Do you feel the voting was even calculated properly?

I don't trust that whole setup, and mean at the end of the day they are just flashing percentages on your television screen, how do we know what is accurate and what isn't? I followed a guy named Ron Paul, he was a Republican, but his own devil party made him look like an idiot, when in reality he debated circles around all those puppets, and I agreed with a lot of what he had to say. Fuck the Republicans, they are a bunch of idiots, they talk about small government and minding your own business, then in the next breath, they want to tell you how to live what you can and can't do. I love meeting middle or lower class young people who claim to be Republicans, what idiots. Sorry to any fans I offend, but wake the hell up. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any love for these lying evil Democrats either.

-Do any solutions exist to the U.S. having been hijacked by other interests? Where have freedom and democracy gone? Can people do anything about this situation?

Yeah, a lot of people together can totally change it all, but scattered people here and there can't do anything but spread the word. This country wasn't really meant to be a Democracy, it was meant to be a Republic, Jefferson put it best when he explained the difference, he said "A Democracy is a sheep and two wolves voting on what’s for dinner, a Republic is a sheep and two wolves voting on what’s for dinner, but the sheep has a gun".

-Discuss your belief in aliens, when did it start? What role do you feel aliens play in our daily lives or future, if any?




Well I have to thank Craig from Sick of It All for my interest in aliens. He turned me on to this. I think aliens were very influential in the beginnings of mankind, and now for awhile we have sort of been on our own. But there is a lot of evidence of aliens in our world’s history, very ancient early text. If I talk too much about this I will lose a lot of credibility with mainstream people, so I'll leave it at that, it's too much to swallow if I pour it on too fast.




-You work in New York, how is the city doing these days? To what extent does 9/11 still impact people’s lives?

New York City is a great place, the city is doing well but it's definitely losing its identity. The record stores, the clubs, the music scene are all slowly leaving. Very hard right now in NYC for smaller private interest to prosper. It's becoming all Starbucks, all corporations you know. But I still love it and appreciate it there. Well, I worked yesterday around Times Square and the presence of armed military was pretty intimidating, you just don't want to see fully camouflaged soldiers with bullet proof vests, dogs, and M-16's standing on every corner. Then when you look deeper, you see cameras everywhere, and other so-called "non-lethal weapons" perched up high on street light poles. It's accepted though because of what happened on 9-11, and that’s too bad.

-Digital technology and gadgetry are one of the most dominant religions of the new century. iPods and iPhones rule the lives of people all ages. What is your stance on this barrage of constantly new technology? Do you feel it helps us as a society or harms us?

It's helps just as much as it harms. For some people it consumes them never to look into anything, a lot of these devices are also potential tracking devices as well, but at the same time the I-Phones, and anything that we can use an Internet with are helpful. I don't know how many people I turned on to the Truth by using their own cell phones. We would be at work, I would tell them something, and they would say "no way." I would say, “look that shit up right now on your phone,” they would, and then they would be shocked, and from there they would do their own research.

-Would you like to plug any friends, bands, authors, books, or businesses that you feel deserve some recognition?

Naw, I really can't, if I start I won't stop…let’s hit up a video interview sometime so I can talk mad shit.