Have Heart - Pat Flynn

Aaron [from Bane] mentioned that you guys are going out with them to Europe in August.rn

PAT FLYNN: Yeah, that’s the plan! We’re going out in late August to most of September. Bane is just going to be…. Awesome. It’s a total dream come true, as cheesy as it sounds. I saw them in 2001 or 2000, and if you told me back then that I’d be touring with Bane, and not just that but touring with Bane� in Europe, I’d tell you to go fuck yourself. *laugh* I’d be like “Shut the fuck up!” It’s crazy, no words can describe it.

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What are your plans between now and that tour?rn

I graduate college in May, and a week later, we’re all flying to Japan. Then we’re taking most of June off. Half way through July, we’re doing a tour with Sinking Ships and Soul Control out to California. On the way back, we’ll be meeting up with Death Before Dishonor I think for a couple dates. And oh, Rise And Fall. We’re meeting up with them at Sound And Fury.

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Have you guys been writing any new stuff at all?rn

We’ve been trying to but our schedules are all fucked up! Three of us are in school in Boston. Two of us work. Our schedules never fucking meet up! So we can never get down to practice. I got a bunch of ideas I’ve been writing though. Ideas for songs in my head. The next LP will musically not be a huge departure from The Things We Carry, but it’s not going to be the same thing. We’re going to try and tweak things a little bit, but not too much. We’re going to do what feels like and what we like. We don’t want to start anything bizarrely new. The last record was more of a self-reflection. This new record isn’t like…. Accusing. I’m not really into that accusing type thing. Basically, the next album is not going to be a “fuck you!” type thing, but I want to look towards some other topics. I’ve written a bunch of songs that take a look at myself, and I want to now try to apply the things I have learned about myself and look out into the rest of the world and interact with it. If you interact with yourself, you won’t get very far. You have to reach out to other people and grow as well. You know what I’m sayin’?

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Your lyrics take quite a philosophical turn to the “normal” lyrics in the hardcore scene. Where do you draw influence with that?rn

There were some classes in college that were eye-opening…. Moving into the city was really eye-opening as well. Being in the multi-cultural world and all that. The city is so much more diverse than anywhere else in the state. That can open your eyes a bit. When you open your eyes, you start to do a little more self-reflection. I think absolutely the bands I grew up watching like Bane have influence as well. I remember seeing Bane and reading his lyrics. I was addicted to it. It wasn’t just like some wreck-less, chaotic, punk thing that I didn’t really relate to. It wasn’t this mainstream noise that makes people bob their heads up and down. It made me think, which forced my body to move. I thought that was crazy. When I saw them live, I couldn’t not move. I couldn’t stay still. It’s not just the music and intensity of the sound but the lyrics too. Some Bane shows and What Feeds The Fire, I felt like I had fire coming from my mouth. *laugh* It’s due to these bands that I’m very fortunate enough to be in the same state and same hardcore scene with. I owe a lot to bands like Verse, Bane, and even some newer bands like Shipwreck offer different perspectives with things. The people in those bands offer good conversations too. It’s been a really good, eye-opening experience. As I said before, when you start to open your eyes, you start to do a little more self-reflection.

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Are there any particular bands you wish were still around for you to play shows with?rn

Absolutely. I wish to god that Have Heart was around in like ‘98-’99 in the Boston straight-edge hardcore scene. I got the tail end of it in 1999, and I was so young. I couldn’t get to shows and didn’t have rides. My parents were cool with me going to shows, but they wouldn’t drive me to the shows. I missed so many good shows because of that. I watch all those videos and there are all those older guys I really look up to. As far as I know, it looked like a really strong, positive and energetic scene. At least from the outside, maybe it was different inside it. I am very happy to be playing in the hardcore scene circa 2007. We have gotten to play with bands like Verse and Shipwreck who have something to same. I am more than happy to be playing with those bands now.

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There are a lot of new bands coming up. Who would you like to shout out for people to check out?rn

Definitely. Soul Control is my new favorite band. I smashed my cell phone in half to them. I didn’t care; they were Soul Control.

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Josh Hynes from Resist: Pat Flynn! Sorry for moshing you brotha’. You know I have a mancrush on you. You are my boy for life! *continues to talk to Pat about top secret EOSJ business*

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Oh, uh. Where were we?rn

Oh, uhm… Oh inspiration from outside bands and stuff. Soul Control and I Rise make me feel like I’m 15 again. I don’t think it has anything to do with age and only liking hardcore when you’re a certain age, but the past few years in hardcore, I feel like besides bands like Shipwreck, there have been a lot of new bands. Soul Control has got it though. Those dudes have been doing bands for a bit, but they got it. They have had the time to think and prioritize. It’s hard to do that when you’re a younger band ’cause younger kids are flaky and stuff. Soul Control and I Rise. Listen to them.

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*JD from Shipwreck walks by*rn Pat: Hey! Join the interview! …. Okay, I’ll catch you later!

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What was the first hardcore show you went to?rn

Oh, the first hardcore show I went to was awesome. The headliner was a band called Grey Area, which featured members of Warzone. A band from New Bedford called All Chrome, with a very post-hardcore-ish sound like Verbal Assault. I remember being 12 or 13 and having someone tell me they sounded like Verbal Assault. I was like, “Who’s Verbal Assault?! If they sound like them, I wanna listen to them!” There was also this punk/hardcore band called Beyond Authority. *grabs Ryan Hudon (guitarist)* You’re in the interview! What was your first hardcore show?rn Ryan: Aw mann… It was uh, All Chrome, a New Bedford band. They were the only hardcore band on that show, but they probably got me into hardcore. It was at this place called Reflections in Bedford.

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*someone walks by*rn Pat: Hey, you wanna be in an interview? (inaudible…)� Oh okay.

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How did you originally get into hardcore?

rn Well, I was really into bands like Pantera and Suicidal Tendencies when I was in junior high. I was a total metalhead. *laugh* Some reason I was really into Blink 182 so I got into pop-punk, and I thought it was lame ’cause it wasn’t intense. So then I got into punk. Then punk seemed like totally not what I wanted. The scene of punks that I saw then was just really shitty. Drunk idiots going to shows. This is when A Global Threat and The Unseen were just starting out. Punks were bringing beer to drug-free venues and stuff and getting shows shut down. I fucking hated that, and it was cool because Reflections did hardcore shows too. As a punk, I stuck around there for the hardcore shows. I still liked punk so I was a punk in the hardcore scene. What was cool was that these kids in the hardcore scene didn’t give a damn that I was some punk in their scene. I thought that was so cool. Some reason at the time, that punk scene wasn’t down with the hardcore scene. I think it was just a formulation of one scene to another to another until I felt comfortable in the hardcore scene.

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*in the background, the guys from Down To Nothing and all the other bands continue to throw each other over tables and wrestle on the ground and laugh hysterically. Pat and I keep getting distracted by it*

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How did you originally find out about straight edge?

rn I was just an average kid. My mom actually got me into straight edge *laugh* My mom is a social worker, and a lot of her clients went to Reflections ’cause it was an AA hall. She showed me this article in the Boston Globe featuring In My Eyes and Ten Yard Fight, and I thought it was pretty cool. Those dudes liked stuff that I liked. They skated, and then I read that they didn’t do drugs. I was like, “Wow, that’s fucking cool!” I was about to go into high school, and at that time, I was thinking, “Aw man, I’m going to have to do drugs and get down with the parties and stuff to fit in.” That newspaper got me into straight edge.

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*Aaron from Bane walks by* Great job tonight Pat!rn Pat: Thank you, you too! See you Monday!

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As cliche as it sounds, it took a load off my chest to know I didn’t have to do that stuff. Straight edge kids looked like they had their own minds and I thought that was cool. Plus, it gave me a reason to be apart from those idiot jock frat dudes that have this backing.

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A lot of kids ask me how I manage through college being straight edge. How did you get through?rn

None of that shit ever really phased me. I see how it could phase kids. Seeing that I go to college in the city so at first I thought there’d be a ton of stuff to do. But even that gets old, and even though there are a lot of people, the people are also a lot more impersonal. A lot of kids at my school are down down with partying. It was tough. I was lucky enough to have hardcore and a band. I felt like I was drowning and was totally lonely first year of college, and then having hardcore as a release was ultimately one of the greatest reasons I survived it. Basically, shows on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and going to shows with Verse and this band has all been lifesavers. As cheesy as it might sound, the nights I spent in my room just moshing. It’s stupid. I would hope to god my roommate would just leave for the weekend. That way I could go dive on my bed and work my way through it.