Cliches exist because there is some truth to them. We've all heard about how "you can take the boy out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the boy", and that's because it's true. How do I know? I'm living proof. I am not the angry, mosh-oriented youth I once was, and more often than not, if you were to yank the earbuds out of my ears and listen to my iPod you'd be prone to hear hilarious radio rap or some riffy, Sabbathy sounding band. However, even at 31, sometimes all it takes for me to be happy is an irate, heavy as fuck hardcore band whose record is not so much a record as much as it is an exercise in using instruments and vocals to drive late teens/early twenty-somethings to mosh pit violence. I guarantee that when I'm 80 years old and shitting my pants as I push my walker around the 4PM Early Bird Dinner Buffet at Fresh Choice I will still be a sucker for heavy hardcore bands.
That being said, Reign Supreme could be the greatest heavy hardcore band currently in existence. Their ability to take angry, brutal, no frills hardcore (which has been done to death since oh, I dunno, whenever Cro-Mags dropped Age of Quarrel) and breathe life back into it by adding subtle yet unique songwriting elements, stellar guitarwork, and what could be the most important piece of the puzzle, the unadulterated, roared vocals of frontman Jay Pepito, really sets Reign Supreme apart not only from other bands in their specific subgenre of hardcore, but from most other extreme bands in general. Check out this brutal jam, "Mother Superior":
Don't act like you weren't NOT smashing your fist against your desk. It's cool. I nearly broke my laptop listening to this the other day. We caught up with Reign Supreme frontman Jay Pepito and got the scoop on the band's recent lull in activty, their upcoming new record as well as their new label.
FF: What has the band been up to as of late?
JP: We are writing an EP, it's called Sky Burial, and it's 6, possibly 7, songs that sort of preview our new stylistic approach to music. We've outgrown our interest in playing contrived mosh-oriented hardcore, and it's time to let our influences shine a little bit more. That said, there will still be plenty of mosh, because we are good at that.
FF: How did the band come together?
JP: Kind of accidentally. I had some friends together jamming after I got kicked out of Blacklisted, and we just evolved into Reign Supreme. Fast forward a few lineup changes, and you have the current incarnation.
FF: You have a beastly voice. How did you learn to use your throat in that manner? Is that hard to maintain on tour?
JP: Thank you! I just emulated Andrew from Figure Four/Comeback Kid and Phil from Pantera as much as I could. I'm not a gifted vocalist, so it required a LOT of experimentation. It's easy to maintain now because I've sort of figured out how to do it. At first I used to lose my voice all the time.
FF: How did you hook up with Deathwish?
JP: We were on a small hardcore label called Malfunction Records. They went bankrupt and Deathwish purchased them. We sort of were an acquisition.
FF: It seemed like you guys had all sorts of momentum going between the release of the American Violence EP and "Testing the Limits of Infinite". In fact, you guys had a sort of "last minute" line up when I saw you at Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2009. What happened between those two releases?
JP: I don't even know. It's all a blur at this point. We did a lot of crazy shit. There was a lot of trouble with certain members of the band (and there still is), and sometimes we have to replace those buttheads with friends who can play our songs and tour. I don't know that we'll ever have a real steady lineup, but that's definitely something I'd like to have happen. There's no longevity or beauty in scab lineups.
FF: What was the best show you ever played with Reign Supreme?
JP: Probably Tokyo with Converge, This is Hardcore 2009, or Sound & Fury 2008. Some of the early shows with Trapped Under Ice and Advent will always be favorites of mine, even though there were like five kids at those shows.
FF: What was the worst show you have ever played with Reign Supreme?
JP: Probably the tour we did with Let Down. That whole tour sucked (THANKS ANDY RICE). The one show was in Kansas, the promoter didn't promote it, the venue was an empty warehouse with a broken PA, no waters (in July in Kansas), and literally three kids came. We shot off Roman Candles with Let Down until the venue kicked us out. Fuck that place.
FF: How did you hook up with the Four Year Strong guys for your appearance on "What The Hell is a Gigawatt?" off their Enemy Of The World record? Were you concerned with sounding out of place on their record?
JP: I know some of those guys. They're a good band. I like them. They record at the same place we do, so our producers just kind of I guess thought it would be a cool collaboration. I knew that my part was going to be a stereotypical mosh part, so I figured it would sound perfect given my stereotypical mosh voice.
FF: How was writing the newest material? How are you planning on releasing it?
JP: It's going to be our first release on our new label, Mediaskare. The new stuff is by far my favorite Reign Supreme material, it's so much harder without trying to fit into a certain sound. There's elements of Converge, Motorhead, Mastodon, Deftones, Advent, Isis, Neurosis, Tragedy, and other bands that we love, but could never really integrate into our sound. We are glad to be able to find a place where we can play heavy music, and feel OK with it not necessarily being derivative of other hardcore bands.
FF: What were the reasons that lead to the band leaving Deathwish?
JP: Deathwish was a great label for us, but the truth is, we never really felt like we fit in with the label and with a lot of the bands on the label. The kids who like Cold World and Blacklisted don't really like Reign Supreme, and sometimes, vice versa. I don't care if you like those bands, or don't like them, because that has nothing to do with it. All that has ever mattered to us as a band is the kids who like our band, and playing our music to those kids. So to us, Mediaskare made a lot more sense, because they will expose our sound to a lot of kids who will probably like it, and we will be able to share our music with more people. From day one, that has always been our mission. We have no illusions of headlining Madison Square Garden, all that we are after is writing the heaviest music that is as distinctly ours as possible and playing that to 300 kids in a VFW hall somewhere in rural America. We did as much as we could with Deathwish, but in the end, it makes sense for them to focus more on stuff like Touche Amore and it makes more sense for us to try to play to kids who want to hear stuff like us and who aren't already over our type of sound.
FF: What are the bands plans for the remainder of 2011? Can the West Coast expect to see you guys anytime in even the distant future?
JP: Record the new record. Do some touring here or there. Hopefully a fest or two in Europe. You can definitely expect to see us in the West Coast before 2012. We plan on flying out and doing some SoCal/NorCal shows.
FF: Any shout outs/thank yous/disses/final words?
JP: Be yourself, don't be one of these fools that gets caught up in all the trends. Hardcore is a wonderful thing, but it's full of liars and fakes. Thanks Erick, and all the people out there creating something new and genuine. We are grateful for the opportunity to share this with you.
Reign Supreme will be dropping Sky Burial in the Fall on Mediaskare. From the little we've heard, it's a banger and you will be moshing in your room. Thanks again to Jay and the rest of Reign Supreme. We will leave with an awesome clip of Reign Supreme playing for the 40 or so people that weren't too hungover to make it to the early day two start time of Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin back in 2009. In addition to some stellar moshing, yours truly is headbanging like an asshole onstage in an Econochrist t shirt. Ballin'.
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