Remy Veselis caught up with Coldworld drummer Nick Wojciechowski as he answered a few questions in regards to their upcoming Australian tour which begins this week.
Yo Nick, how's life?
It's okay I suppose. Just chillin. About to get some Indian food with my homies Omar from Soul Search and Michael Morrissey.
First off, what was your first musical love, hardcore or hip-hop?
I discovered hip-hop long before hardcore. I got into it when I was super young. Beastie Boys, Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, etc. I was way into it in early grade school. I started unknowingly dabbling into hardcore in like 5th grade when I was checking out the first Suicidal Tendencies LP, The Misfits and things like that. I didn't totally get into hardcore until high school and I picked up my love for Brit pop, dance music and other shit later on.
What are the origins of Cold World?
I was in Philly working and DJing. Alex was there as well because he was going to Temple. We were just bored of not being in a band. We were in Magnus together with Dan years before so we got together with Dave Foster and figured out what sound we wanted to go for and started practicing once a week in Philly. Since Magnus I had briefly played in Horror Show and Alex & Foster both did some time in Frostbite but that's about it. I worked as an overnight valet at a hotel and Alex would come by at like 2 am with an acoustic guitar and we'd match lyrics in my little booth. It was a special time for all of us.
Since Dan now lives in England it must be difficult to organise Cold World tours. With that being said, you are coming down for a tour with Rotting Out in Mid April. How long has this tour been in the works?
I believe Rotting Out just dropped off but the tour has been in the works for a few months now. We're pretty excited because we've never been to NZ or Australia. I'm not sure what to expect but my homie Jared from Down To Nothing/Trapped Under Ice told me I'm going to love it so I'm psyched.
What are you looking forward to most about your first trip to Australia? Any things you especially want to do?
I honestly don't know much about Australia. My favorite places to tour are Japan and England because a lot of things I'm into come from those places but I don't really know what comes from Australia. I collect old skateboards and there was a cool skateboard company from Australia called Cockroach so maybe I'll find some old Cockroach decks and wheels but I doubt it.
Its been a while since the last album. Since not all of you live in the same country anymore how difficult is the recording process these days?
Everything went rather smoothly besides Dan's vocals. We had to resort to having him do them alone in the UK and he's taking his sweet-ass time with it. The same thing sort of happened with "Dedicated..." but it wasn't as bad because he lived in Wilkes-Barre at the time so Alex would go to the studio there with him a few times a week until they were done.
Your last releases have been on a few different labels, when can we expect the next Cold World LP or any new material to drop and who will be putting it out?
I believe we're doing a one-song single for the Chaos in Tejas fest and that will be to this LP what the "Boom Bye-Bye" 7" was to "Dedicated". It's all being done by Deathwish. They've been really great so sticking with them was a no-brainer. The new material is basically more of the same. There's a song where Alex sings the whole thing and a song where I sing it's entirety and those songs are different but nothing we haven't dabbled in before. We'll take a sound that we used for a part of a song on the last record and explore it by making a whole song from it. Making this record was great because now that Haroun is in the band he comes with great riffs and song ideas. We share a lot of the same influences but each of us are also into some stuff that the others aren't so we all bring those different sounds to the table.
Why is Wilkes-Parre PA such a breeding ground for hardcore bands?
That's a good question and I don't think anyone can specifically answer it. I would chalk it up to our scene's penchant for individuality. You can trace W-B's scene back to the beginning and find all kinds of cool, unique bands along the whole timeline. I'm not saying all of them have aged well and you can really bump them now but at the time they were definitely cool.
Besides hitting the drums for Cold World you are also fairly involved with hip-hop. When did you start DJing?
I started dabbling in high school and sort of figuring out the basics. I went to school in NY and that's where I really got into it. I lived in Brooklyn so I would go to The Music Factory, Beat Street, Fat Beats, Breakbeat Science, Eightball Records, Kim's Video, Rock & Soul and so many others for records every week. I had my turntables set up in my dorm and would practice every day. I was really into playing hip-hop, drum n bass and house music. That was also when i learned the basics of making beats and sampling. Years later I moved to Philly and my homie Bushy hooked up with some DJ spots and I did those every week until we really started doing Cold World.
What is your current view on the modern hardcore scene? Any bands you have been digging lately?
Honestly i'm not digging it too much. There are some new bands that I like such as Soul Search, Stick Together, World War 4, and a few others but the scene on a whole just isn't what i wish it was. I don't even know how to explain it, but there's something missing for sure. There needs to be less focus on buff shirtless dudes and more focus on individuality and intelligence. When I say intelligence I don't necessarily mean for everyone to be political or smart-asses. I just want some bands to come out with a new take on shit. Also it seems like whenever someone has something to say in between songs it's just "Everyone be yourself and do what you wanna do" and that's cool and all but you're just saying that there's not much meaning behind your songs. If you're really up there expressing yourself you should have more to say than that. For new shit I mostly listen to the dance music coming out of the UK right now, hip-hop and I listen to a lot of Howard Stern.
Are there any Australian bands that you are familiar with?
I've talked with Sam from Iron Mind before and gave him some music to use in a video for his art and he seems like a really nice dude. I'm psyched to meet him and see his band. Beside that I've only heard the myths of Parkway Drive and how they're rock stars there and stuff. I hate that kind of music and usually can't stand anyone who's involved in it so I don't have much interest in that but it's cool that they're doing their thing.
Any last words/shout outs?
Thanks for the interview and I'm psyched to come to Australia. If anyone has any old Cockroach boards, bring em out!
