Here's part two of an interview with Matt, the drummer Capitalist Casualties. He's a great drummer and a friendly too. He was pretty trashed when we did this. We left off talking about Assuck last time. I did it in December 1995. Enjoy and please keep in mind that this interview is pretty old and I was like 17 when I did it.
Also there are some typos and stuff because I scanned it from the zine, but you'll just have to deal with that because I don't feel like fixing them all, tough guy.

They're all really good musicians. The guitar player's really good. they're all good, I think.
have you ever seen them live?

No.
I've never fucking heard a goddamn fatter guitar tone than they get their bass drum is the most hellish fuckin thunder, I don't know where they-, get it.

Is It big?
Well, yeah, their amps are kinda big, but even when he's just playing by himself, I've never heard a more harsh or better tone than he's getting out of his amp.

Assuck and Capitalist played in Seattle, that's around where I'm from
Did you see that show?

No- I missed that one.
That show was one of the fuckin funnest shows we've ever played. it was this little room, totally packed, totally hot, could not breathe, that was the best show. So many people in here, going crazy and pushing up on stage. Man, right into my drums, that was the punk rock scene.

When are you due up here again?
We were supposed to go up this year, a few month ago.

Yeah, It got cancelled, right?
I love that town, like a Tuesday night. 2 in the fucking morning, there's people everywhere, and we were like "Fuck, this town is partying!* We can't waft to get back up there.

Jeff said something like February?
Yeah, we hung out with our friends Whipped up there, that was great, we can't wait.

This is kind of a long question: OK, I'm still in high school and everything [not anymore- this was 1996], so with Rancid and Green Day getting popular, I hear a lot of complaining about people liking punk or whatever. As someone that's been into it for a while , I noticed you thanked Lint and Op Ivy on your first 7", what's your comment on that kind of thing?
Well, I remember- see, Green Day's from our area, our guitar player now, the first time I met him, he was with this other band I went and saw, and Green Day played before them, they were nothing. Op Ivy and Rancid, those guys are really cool- I only know their singer by the name Lint, I don't know what he's going by know, but we used to hang out with that guy in Berkley, they're all cool guys. I don't necessarily- I think MTV these days has pretty much decided that for people that weren't around when MDC and DRI, these were San Francisco bands that we'd seen in clubs back in '84 or'85, and I don't remember- MTV has made punk a household word now. Wed see these bands- and nobody sang about girls- I don't mean to be punker than thou and say this is whats punk and what isn't but right no wthe music industry is so gung-ho and they're targeting the youngest generation that was not around when punks sang about anarchy, they don't have any idea of what punk was supposed to be about originally. Even if anarchy is a bullshit idea, and that's just something that people thought was cool back then, that's really where it kinda started, and the most obvious of- bands like Green Day, no one even associates anything they do with the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, and even riff they fuckin do is a Sex Pistols or Ramones riff.

They're definitely influenced by those bands.
But they claim they're not.

As far as I'm concerned, Rancid has credibility, as far as Matt being in MDC and everything.
I play in a band right now with Chris Wilder from MDC.

Oh really?
Yeah, we've known those guys forever.

So what's this band with Chris?
And the bass player from Spazz is In it

Chris Dodge?
Yeah, Chris Dodge. That guys one of the coolest guys I've ever known in my life. He runs Slap A Ham, you probably know that. If you met this guy, you'd never I know in a million years that he was in a band like Spazz.

Why's that?
Well, he's the most normal looking, nicest guys the dude that if you're at a show and someone starts fucking with him, you'll have 50 people in your face on the drop of a dime. People just don't fuck with Chris Dodge. Chris is the coolest guy you'll ever meet, and everyone that knows him has the most respect, cuz he runs the harshest label, he's in this totally harsh, harsh band, and he's the most normal-Joe looking guy that never fucks with anybody, and helps everybody out, you know. He's the funniest dude you'll ever know, too. He's got the harshest sense of humor. He's a totally cool guy. We played this thingthis is how Chris Dodge is funny- we played this thing, me, him, and the guitar player from MDC, and these two chicks singing, all these people that play in these harsh hardcore bands, we dressed in afro wigs, full 70's ABBA outfits, we played nothing but ABBA songs.

Oh, is this Biorn Baby Bjorn?
Yeah!

Ah. I got a flyer for one of your shows that Chris sent me.
Yeah, we're just fuckin cracking up, I'm sitting back there playing these disco beats in this afro wig, thinking *What the fuck am I doing here?" And at the end of the gig, they'll give us like $1500! We're all 'What?!?* we played the show at some amphitheater in San Diego- there s 3,000 people out there, they -put us in this 4-star hotel, and we Ire in the lobby, and room
service and everything, and we 're like 'This is bizarre. None of us have ever done this in our real bands- we just dress up and act stupid and play ABBA songs, and people take us serious. If they heard the bands we normally play in, they'd just think it was fuckin' noise. Then we come back, after getting undressed, cause we're all sweaty and shit, everyone goes back out on stage, tattoos and shit, and they were like "Wait- this is who we just paid money to see? We don't like them- those guys are scumbags!* But they have no idea- they've never even heard of MDC or any of our bands. Kinda funny.

A lot of bands these days don't even last a year-why do you think Capitalist has lasted as long as it has?
Well, back in 87, Santa Rosa, where we're from, used to have a pretty good scene, I mean, .there were hella bands, Victim's Family and shit. This was prePirimus, pre-Green Day. Green Day played, but no one knew who the fuck they were. They're a hell of a lot heavier now than

they used to be. 10: Oh yeah? M: Yeah, they used to be this fuckin pussy-ass, every song was about your girlfriend dumping you, I used to hate them with a ~passion. But, then Primus came to town, there used to hella punk bands in town, then Primus comes through and everyone goes funk. Eveybody. They all wanted to jump on the bandwagon, except for us. For about a tear, no one gave a shit about what we were doing anymore. So all of a sudden, in about 92, everyone's trying to get back in, be

punk and shit, and by then we already nacs albums and shit out, we were like the only band that didn't change and try to jump an the band wagon. So now everyone kind of considers us ahead of the pack or bigger then anyone else. just because all these bands that came back- Someone else at his place: Is this your favorite band, Matt? Matt: Led Zeppelin? I only like Led Zeppelin at four in the morning when I'm spun out. What was I saying. I'm not even making sense, huh? 10: Sure you are. So .is that where all the antifunk stuff from "The Art Of .Ballistics" came from, like on the inside of my record It -says "Fuck capitalist funk." M: Yeah, I was all down on that for a while. Fuck, I just went and saw fucking Primus and Tool the other night, cuz it was a birthday present for my girlfriend, and they were OK, I didn't mind them that much. It was something to do. So before I used to hate them just because they fucked up our scene, there were no more punk bands, and even to this day, we are like the only band doing what we're doing in the area. If we played a local show, with all local band, we'd be like the only punk band, and everyone else doing wha MTV's telling them to do. Thars what kinda irritates me. That's

hy sometimes I'll sound all down on styles- I'm not really down n styles, I'm down on the fact that people are just trying to do what everyone else is doing. 10: OK, one last question. This is a straightedge zine, and I was wondering about your take on straightedge. M: I don't have one single problem with it 10: You think it's all right? M: Well. see, a lot of times I'll hear that what people respect the most about us is that we've never tried to base things on what people will think, and we've got a lot of friends that do a lot of shit, and our guitar player- that guy lives in Valejo. If your familiar with Valejo, in Valejo, there's fucking nothing but dope and guns, and thafs it. It's a nice place if you're a gun. Is, and we have in do drugs. As a matter of fact, there was a couple of dudes at our
practice tonight that were full on straightedge and shit,
andtheres
no problem with that 10: A lot of PeOPle have actually
thought
that you were sXe because Of songs like
"Methamphetamine'. Drug Culture," and -Swallowing the
Guilt." M: See. all that shit, we just write songs about shit
we've
experienced, and fuck, who Wouldn't be drug free if they
could.
Except us, we've been doing drugs our whole fuckin life, so
I'm
totally drawn to do them. Why would I choose that? if
someone
thinks bad of me because of it, well, that's their purgative I
guess.
10. someone that has an open mind about
. It,s good to hear ate people who
take drugs and
it. A lot of straightedgers h ge. M: We don 't think that
drugs
lot of crustles hate straighted re not cool. The
truth
are cool, or that if you don't take drugs you

is, we've done shit our whole lives , we ail admit that were dr addicts and alcoholics, and there's nothing super cool about But, you know, people change and, were all pretty functional people, although weve gone through times when we haven't been. I've been the junkie in the gutter. I'm not now, but I can relate to that. We've been there, so we know what it's like to have righteous assholes trying to tell you what a loser you are. We've experienced it. like *Drug Culture.' What that song is about is how we?ve grown up in punk houses, with mushrooms growing in the sink, some shit on the stove that was probably macaroni and cheese three weeks ago, 24 hours a day people in and out, there's just a cloud of fuckin drugs, and you play and drink and do drugs and live there with ail your friends. Some people will look at that and say "Oh, what a fuckin life,* and no one's trying to say that we're better than you cause we've been there, but that's what we relate to. I could see people that were all down on R, and slamming it, losing their friends and shit It's a shame. I've been there and I don't put it down. If there was somethingto do forthern I would though.

Well, that's about it Thanks, and Is there anything you want to add? M: Anything I want to add... Hmmm... (pause) Don't be mean to anybody. 10: There's a good message. M: Don't be mean.