Crimson Moon: How did the band get started?
Taylor: Well, when the whole pandemic thing hit, Jeramie (Kling – drums) and I did a project where we wrote, recorded, mixed and released a new song each day. We did various styles of metal, and asked a bunch of friends to join us. Two of those guests were Brian Stephenson (who sings/plays in Old James, and did some touring with Annihilator and Skull Fist), who sang on our Bay Area Thrash song, and Christian “Spiesi” Giesler (played bass in Kreator from 1994-2019), who played bass on a New York Hardcore style song. So I had written the demos for the punk project last year and they kind of just sat on the shelf for a bit while Jeramie and I worked on Massacre stuff, Absence stuff, Venom Inc stuff, etc. Then after doing the quarantine project we decided to start up the punk band and knew Brian and Spiesi were both big punk fans, so it was an easy decision.
Crimson Moon: What kind of music do you play?
Taylor: We play punk. Like any genre, it has tons of sub-genres, so I suppose you can hear bits of crossover-thrash, melodic hardcore, skate punk, etc. But we generally say we play punk. It keeps things simple!
Crimson Moon: How has the band response been?
Taylor: We’ve only been a band for about 4 months, so being a “baby band” is always tough, but the response has been so overwhelmingly positive so far! It seems that there are more punk fans than we knew! Especially in Germany. We already sold out of our first European pressing of CDs which is pretty awesome.
Crimson Moon: Where did the band name come from?
Taylor: Thinking of a band name is one of the worst parts about being in a new band, haha! With so many thousands and millions of bands out there, it’s hard to be original, but we wanted a one-word name that was strong and simple. Fore worked because it means “situated or placed in front” which is cool. We felt that there really isn’t enough good punk, so we wanted to try to be at the start of something new and exciting. Also it’s excellent for play on words, which you will notice more and more from out album titles!
Crimson Moon: Introduce the band members
Taylor: Hi, meet the band! *drum roll* Jeramie Kling on the drums! *drum roll* Brian Stephenson on vocals! *drum roll* Christian “Spiesi” Giesler on bass! *drum roll* Taylor Nordberg on guitar!
Crimson Moon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Taylor: The songs don’t become songs until everyone has their input/ideas on it. I wrote the majority of the riffs, and Spiesi wrote a chunk of killer riffs. Then once the drums and vocals came together it really sounded like a band! Brian writes all the lyrics and vocal melodies, because he rules. We call him the Canadian Glenn Hughes.
Crimson Moon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Taylor: I think Brian writes mostly from his life-experiences. We don’t sing about fantasy stuff, like goblins or ghouls, but hey, we’ve only done one album, so anything could happen!
Crimson Moon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Taylor: We did one album so far, which is called “Hombres” and we self-released it. It came out August 7th, and we actually have vinyl being printed for later in the year as well, which is totally exciting. We have demos for our next album (maybe more?) and will begin on album #2 shortly.
Crimson Moon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Taylor: They are short and sweet, just how I like my punk. There are 12 songs, and I believe it comes in at about 22 minutes in length.
Crimson Moon: Do you have any side projects?
Taylor: We have about 100 side projects, haha. Jeramie plays drums in Venom Inc, we both play in Massacre, The Absence, Goregäng, Ribspreader, Eye Of Purgatory, etc, etc. Brian plays bass and sings in Old James, which is a killer rock band.
Crimson Moon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Taylor: My influences are too vast to list, but anything from Frank Zappa, to Obituary, to Simon & Garfunkel, to Aerosmith, to Extreme Noise Terror. As far as punk influences, The Offspring has been a favorite of mine since I was 8 or 9, I’m also a huge Dead Kennedy’s fan, and I love lots of the crossover/d-beat stuff too.
Crimson Moon: What is the band like when you play live?
Taylor: We haven’t played live yet, but I can imagine it will be full of energy and tons of fun!
Crimson Moon: What is the scene like over in your country?
Taylor: Punk in the USA doesn’t seem to be a very big scene, but there are no doubt a whole bunch of people that don’t know about us yet. So our goal is to reach every punk in every corner of the world, and let them know that punk isn’t dead.
Crimson Moon: What made you want to be in this band? And if you weren’t in this
band what would you being doing now?
Taylor: If I wasn’t in this band, I would still be in my other 20 bands, haha. I’ve been a fan of punk since I was 8 or 9, so after all these years it’s really great to be able to play punk riffs.
Crimson Moon: What does the future hold for the band??
Taylor: More songs, more albums, and hopefully tons of shows and festivals!
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/FOREpunk
https://forepunk.bandcamp.com/releases
