Blog - Page 106 of 122 - By The Barricade

United Defiance are fighting back against the ever changing punk scene in Northern California. Driven by friends, family, and politics this band is bringing cooperation back to the east bay one melodic punk song at a time. By the Barricade wanted to learn a little more about United Defiance and their latest release, The Way It’s Gonna Be. You can find the entire interview below! Noless: Guitar/Vocals Rich Brown: Guitar/Vocals Robert Smith: Bass/Vocals Danny Tuggle: Drum/Vocals By the Barricade: Can you describe United Defiance in five words or less? United Defiance: United together we sing By the Barricade: In your Facebook Bio you mention the “ever changing east bay punk scene”. How has it changed since United Defiance formed in 2004? United Defiance: For us we have watched the scene turn from what was once a united “let’s go to shows and support each other” to a “that band is this genre (pop, metal, emo, punk etc), we should not support bands that aren’t like us”. I can remember when playing shows meant exactly that. Having fun, drinking with friends (Coffee or Beer) there was no need for competition. By the Barricade: “I Quit Trying” really resonated with me in that regard. Can you tell me more about that song? United Defiance: The song is kind of a poke at the “Scene” mostly towards the Punk/metal Elitist that think because they have seen the Ramone or the Misfits in the 80s that they know everything about punk rock. It’s like because they “were” Punk/metal that means no one else can be and if they are they have to follow certain rules to the specific genre. Also, the song is about some of the bands that don’t want to work for shows, do not promote anyone else but their own band and over all just act like they are better than everyone else. By the Barricade: I hear a lot of political references in your lyrics. What else are you doing to make a difference or spread awareness in that field? United Defiance: Everything that we have ever written about war/politics have been from first hand experiences from soldiers and such. Our bass player Robert is a veteran and we thank him all the time for his service. We would never write about politics that we don’t know about or at least have good Intel about. The song “Under The Gun” on our new record was a song that took us a while to put together. Lyrically we wanted to make sure it was right and accurate. We wanted to tell the stories that we have heard from soldiers that had or are still having those experiences. We feel a lot of them go unheard or told out of context. By the Barricade: I’ve read that friends and family also had a huge role shaping the band. Did you guys grow up in a musical household, and if so what was it like? United Defiance: Family for us is a complicated thing, as you can tell in a couple of the songs off our new record it was not all a “great” time. We see each other as family that is why I think we work so well together. Our friends are our family have supported us endlessly. Noless (Vocals) and Robert (Bass) are actually related and support each other to the max. As far as musical support we had it until they found out we were playing punk … then we got the “that will never take you anywhere” speeches. But as we got older they seem to come around and be a little more into it. By the Barricade: In your opinion, what was your biggest achievement so far? United Defiance: All the people we have gotten to meet; the fact that our music has actually gotten through to people is an amazing achievement for us. And then there is the bucket list that is full of band that we want to play with before their time, or our time is up. We are very fortunate to have played with a lot of the bands on our list, but there are still a few we are working towards playing with. By the Barricade: What do you want United Defiance fans to leave with after your show? United Defiance: We want them to leave remembering why they went to shows in the first place. We have a lot of fun live we joke around a lot and interact with crowd quite a bit and have also been known to play 80’s covers really fast just for fun. For United Defiance it’s more than just playing the music, it’s about putting on a great show and having a blast every time. We are very personal with everyone at the shows and we are grateful to everyone that keeps coming out to see us. By the Barricade: Is there anything else you want to say to the readers of By the Barricade? United Defiance: The new record Way It’s Gonna Be can be streamed and download at https://uniteddefiance.bandcamp.com. Keep on supporting bands, Go to shows, have some fun and remember why you got into music in the first place. You can check out United Defiance on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so spread the word and get connected! Keep it on Bythebarricade.com for more rock, punk and metal interviews, reviews, articles, and photos! Also, “Like” By the Barricade on Facebook to never miss a post. If you liked this article check out: Pennywise: Jim Lindberg Interview Special C Interview The Offspring, Bad Religion, and Pennywise at Summer Nationals Punk Rock Bowling 2014 Review Interview with The Brigadiers