There’s a lot of enthusiasm (and exclamation points) in this interview with Carrie Whitney. That’s awesome, especially since she’s not some new jack who is overly excited about their first core-related project. Nope. Carrie has been involved and making an impact on all this since the mid-90’s… first with her Seattle-centric zine Point Furthest From The Middle, and then with her photo zine, Hardcore Maniacs.
From there, she compiled some of the biggest names in hardcore onto 1997’s, All About Friends, a comp which celebrated the incredible friendships hardcore is so good at forging. Still, despite the sweet sentiments that inspired the comp, AAF was no emo cry fest. No way. We’re talking Botch, CR, Trial, Threadbare, Coalesce, Indecision, and their ilk.
Today, Carrie is still celebrating hardcore and the relationships it can build with a new comp: All About Friends Forever. This time around she shares the music of her friends in Olde Ghost, Regents/Ladder Devils, Crushed on You, Heiress, Torchbearer, The God Damn Rattlesnake, Children of God, and a host of other bands that are soon to become yer pals.
Tell me about what first drew you to hardcore.
My very first hardcore show was Undertow at Magic Studios in Bellevue, WA. The summer of ‘94! A girl I worked with at Tower Records had a friend who noticed I like Green Day and the Descendents, so he asked me to go to a “hardcore” show with him.
Undertow. Nice starting point.
At that show I saw how stoked everyone was and a little kid named Dan Dean was sitting in front of Ryan’s (from Undertow) drums holding them in place and stage diving every once in while. He looked like he was having the time of his life. That was inspiring, and that night I also met the one and only Dave Larson! (From Excursion Records and fanzine)
So you had a good experience right from the start. How old were you?
I was 19.
And you got involved in a more active way than simply going to show pretty quickly, no? [Dave] got you doing photos for Excursion?
Well for [his] zine, until I got a job at Kinko’s. Then I started my own zine. It wasn’t long after that show.
I think we met through your zine, when did that start, what was it called, what was the impetus for it and how many issues did you do?
Well I think I started my zine that fall! The first zine was called Point Furthest from the Middle! Yes, I went Straight Edge pretty much right away. My dad was an alcoholic and I had pretty eventful early high school years with drugs and booze. But my junior and senior year I had a friend that didn’t want to drink like the rest of the drones - I thought that was a pretty good philosophy! So when I learned about Straight Edge I was in! My first issue of my zine I wanted to promote all the drug free fun that I had been having. (Skating, snowboarding, music, art…). I think PFFTM had 7-8 issues. I can’t even remember now.
So, doing the zine I would imagine you met a lot of people involved in the first comp. Tell us a little bit about the concept behind that.
Doing the zine, I got to travel and go on tour and sell my zines to pay for vegan doughnuts. I’ve met so many wonderful, talented people all over the world through that. I really [couldn’t] believe that kids in Europe wanted to know what Seattle kids are up to; I didn’t think anyone actually read my zine. I just had a ton of fun making them! I was living at the Aurora Family House [in Seattle] when the comp idea came around. Jake Snider had a recording studio in our basement where we also had shows. By then I was doing my photozine Hardcore Maniacs. I had Jake at my disposal and a million friends that I wanted to bring together in more than just a photozine! So I started to pitch the idea. Then it took off like wildfire.
The title of that comp was All About Friends. Was that a statement on the bands on the comp, that they were all your friends? Or was the title meant to be getting at something larger?
The way it started it was just my friends, but that was how I got started and a way to give thanks I to all of them. It also became a way to make new friends. Threadbare gave me their cover song and although they were one of my favorite bands at the time, I hadn’t ever met them. I had this idealistic view of hardcore at the time, like I could show up in any city and look for the kid wearing a Strife or Snapcase shirt and we’d instantly be best friends. I know that isn’t most people’s experience but it was mine for the most part. I mean hardcore wouldn’t be anything without the friendships that keep it going.
That idealism about hardcore, do you still have it?
I actually do, I lost it for a while around 2003-5, but I have some pretty awesome friends who gave me that sparkle back!
And how old are you now?
37
Often times you hear women in hardcore saying they feel like they’re treated like second-class citizens. Yet it sounds like from the get go you made an impact. Have you encountered a lot of sexism in hardcore? In your opinion is it a friendly place for women to get involved and be treated as equals?
Yes, I think hardcore is an awesome thing for girls to get involved in. Every scene has its bad apples and I can see where a woman could get the wrong idea about hardcore. I’ve seen some violence. I’ve seen more violence at bar shows than I’ve ever seen at a youth center. I observed a lot before I participated in stage diving and dog piling. I also had a big metal camera so maybe that made jumping on my head a bad idea. I’ve always been a tomboy and that I’m sure has something to do with my love of hardcore, and everyone tells me that I can make friends with who ever I want because I’m a girl… But I don’t think that’s sexist. I learned a valuable lesson from an old boss who gave me a job at record store because I was the first applicant, out of 200+, to smile. You can do anything you want to do as long as you smile! This goes for guys and gals, if you aren’t enjoying something, don’t do it! If you are enjoying it don’t let the bad apple’s take it away from you!
I like that advice. So, we are the same age, 37. We’re both at an age where many of our peers have left hardcore behind. What made you to decide to do a sequel to the AAF comp a good fifteen years after the first one?
Well I started with wanting to put together a book. I have over 5000 negatives of all the bands I’ve seen over the years. I kept them for some reason and I really need to put them to good use. So scanning started, then all the memories started. When I moved to New York seeing all my East Coast friends made me realize that most of my friends are still involved in one way or another. And Rich kept nagging me to put the old comp on vinyl… so the gears started turning. I kind of got sick of reunion shows, but that’s almost exactly what I was thinking [of doing myself] with the book. I wanted to promote friends that are still doing what they love, so I could make the comp not just another re-release but updated! Show the roots and what blossomed from it! Hopefully this thing we do will just keep growing and changing in good ways.
A lot of people our age are documenting the past. I love that you are documenting the now. So the new comp is called?
All About Friends Forever!
And can we get some details on who is on this one? I know it hasn’t all been leaked yet.
Well it will be a double LP, one with the first comp and one [with the] new one. I think as of today we have 12 bands, which is more than the last one so it has been growing. [There’s] some completely new friends, and some that were in bands on the first comp. All the new bands are current - recording playing shows bands! I’ve got some pics from a returning contributing photographer, Justin Borucki. I think my friend Eagle Barber is doing some art for it. I can’t remember what bands we’ve announced, but I’m excited about every single one of them. Some are doing totally new songs, and of course some are doing covers which I can assure [you] are going to be AMAZING!
And is this your project or are you putting it out in conjunction with 1000 Knives?
I’m doing it with 1000 Knives. It is my project but there is no way I would [have] gotten this far without him. He’s friends with everyone, so he fits perfect into the AAF’s parameters. Rich has very much inspired me to follow through on this whole idea.
I know you haven’t revealed it all, but give me a sneak peak… what contribution to the comp are you most amped about right this second?
Right this second it is Olde Ghost and the Regents/Ladder Devils song. Olde Ghost are good friends from Seattle and they are the most inspiring group of old hardcore kids I’ve ever known, most of them were around when the first comp came out. Same goes for Regents and Ladder Devils, such a happy bunch of peeps and excited about what they are doing and doing it sooooooo awesome!
You use more exclamation points than most hc kids, would you say you’re posi? And on the same page, what makes you most amped about hc circa 2011-12?
Yes, very POSI!!!!! Hahaha! Most amped about hardcore now, huh? We’ll I’d have to say all the support and excitement around this comp. I’ve seen lots of reunions this last year, but having just seen SOIA in Philly, I was still floored and very stoked. Some of my new favorite bands are Regents, Give, All Pigs Must Die, Coliseum… now I’m having a senior moment… there are too many. Hardcore is alive and well that is for sure.
I love how amped you are. To finish up, is there anything else about the comp you want to let us know? If not, when should we expect to be slapping it on the turntable?
I’m shooting for release in March, but for sure April! I’m toying with the idea of doing a Kickstarter presale as well. Then we get to make lots of fun stuff like T-shirts, stickers and buttons… Maybe even do some photo prints.
Eric Weiss is a dear and old friend to us both.He did a great job with the interview.We definitely encourage you to follow his hijinks and find out when the new issue of Rumpshaker Fanzine is coming out through his website aptly named : http://www.rumpshakerzine.com
