IE: For people reading this who are finding out about you guys for the first time, please tell us shortly who AFN is and what you are all about?

Cindy: We are a 5 piece band from Holland. We got Ernst and Bas on guitar, Jim on drums, Ab on bass and Cindy on vocals. With a big love for hardcore music and an eagerness to travel, we play as many shows and tours as we can. We've been around for a couple of years and had some lineup changes along the way.

IE: Ernst, you were handling the vocals as well as the guitars when the band started out. You don’t really see that a lot in hardcore music. How was the experience and how would you rate yourself as a singer? 

Ernst: You are right. You don’t see that very often. At that time we just started out and wanted to play songs and get on stage as soon as we could. We couldn’t find a singer so I took the “job”. As far as a rating goes, on a scale of one to ten I’d say around a 5. Haha. Since then our style has changed a bit I'd say.

IE: So how did Cindy come into the band? Were there other singers that you were considering?

IE: Cindy, for better or worse, do you ever feel like you get treated differently for being a female fronting a hardcore band?

Cindy: Make no mistake about that… I get knocked over a lot! People treat me different. Sometimes (sadly) on purpose by giving you a cold stare or prejudging our band by assuming it can’t be anything good if a girl sings. Sometimes unintentionally as well. Sometimes people at the venues think I’m the merch seller or girlfriend of a band member. The look on their faces when we take the stage is priceless. Honestly, to me it’s all good. There will always be people that have something against females singing in a hardcore band. On the other hand there will always be people who are more interested when they hear there is a female singing. In the last few years I've seen things change for the better. There are more girls fronting and playing instruments in bands nowadays than when I joined AFN. Every once in a while you run into people that don't like you, but that is fine. Nobody forces you to like our band. This is what we do, love it or hate it that’s up to you.

IE: So who do you look up to as a lead singer? What front man or woman made you want to be a singer?

Cindy: I always admired female singers with a rough but understandable voice. Examples would be Janis Joplin and Brody Dalle. And I always looked up to a certain “not caring about being a very girly type of woman” attitude. Not being the prettiest, the sexiest, but just being yourself and enjoy making noise. 

IE: What about singers for hardcore/punk or metal bands? Who do you look at and think “damn they are good"?

Cindy: John Joseph, Aaron from Bane, Scott Vogel…they all have a lot of great energy.

IE: From what I have heard and read about All For Nothing, you play A LOT of shows. How many weeks out of the year are you guys touring these days? 

Cindy: We do a lot of weekend trips since that has proven to be really convenient for us. We all work part-time. Next to that we try to tour at least 5 weeks a year.

IE: There has to be a lot of sacrifices made to make a band like AFN work. What are some of the things that the average fan might not know about that you give up out of your personal lives to keep this band going? 

Ernst: I think that a lot of people don’t realize that being in a band like AFN is not only about being the band that they see on stage for 35 minutes. We don’t have big management behind us. No really big sponsors. Our work doesn’t stop when we put down our instruments, it just begins. We have a booker and a label that helps out but most stuff we deal with ourselves. Which in short means that there is rarely a moment where we can kick back and relax. When you travel and play to the extent that we do there is the cold hard fact that you are not going to make it to every birthday, wedding, bachelor party or BBQ that your friends and family have. Which results in seeing the people that you care about a lot less than you sometimes want. And although I must confess that it’s sometimes really tiring doing all this next to a normal job and life, it truly feels like a blessing. Because I feel it keeps us connected to the stuff that really matters in life. This band got us everything and a bit more if you know what I mean. We earned it by ourselves. It's a feeling that is hard to beat.

IE: What kind of jobs do you guys have?

Cindy: The band is not our profession. Life here became too expensive and the music industry became too unreliable to make a living off of it. Jim and I are social workers, Ab is becoming an optometrist, Ernst is a graphic designer and Bas is a driving instructor. All to make ends meet. We’ve always needed a backup plan. I think there is not a single hardcore band that makes a 100% living off of their music in Europe. 

IE: It is rare to see European hardcore bands come over to the US to tour. Do you have any plans to come over to the US?

Cindy: We absolutely want to tour the USA (or at least parts of it). We are waiting for a good opportunity. So if anybody is willing to help us out, get in touch! We are always open for ideas.

IE: Do you think a package tour with a few European bands would be something that could be a possibility? 

Ernst: Well, it definitely sounds like a ton of fun. We would be up for it for sure.

IE: Do you feel that hardcore bands from Europe get enough respect from fans outside of Europe, particularly the US?

Both: Oh yeah, for sure!

IE: How important do you feel the European hardcore scene is for American bands?

Cindy: It seems that Europe has been a key factor in the career of many bands.  We had a talk about that just a couple of weeks ago, especially for the older bands it seems that Europe really gave them a living. To us it seems that the USA scene is a little more  “Flavor of the week” you know what I mean? Where here in Europe those bands (US ones) can count on a large group of loyal fans that supported the bands when they first came over 20 years ago and still support them by going to shows. I think there is a bit more loyalty towards US bands here in Europe.

IE: What percentage of e-mails, mail-order, and just general contact from fans would be from the US? 

Cindy: I would say it’s a good 15%

IE: You have a tour coming up soon to Southeast Asia. Can you tell us about it? 

Ernst: It’s our first time and we are really excited about finally getting there. We get a lot of feedback from that part of the world and it is mind blowing for us that we are going to the other side of the world and connect with people through the one thing we all love: hardcore music.  

IE: Tell us about the hardcore scene in the Netherlands. What bands are out there, venues, etc?

Ernst: There are a lot of shows, both big and small. The bigger stuff happens in venues  like the 013 in Tilburg, Dynamo in Eindhoven and the Melkweg (Milkyway) in Amsterdam which can hold 1000 to 1500 people. There are shows every weekend. We got bands like No Turning Back, Backfire! and Tech-9  that are still going strong and although a lot of venues are being closed by the government  lately there are still good possibilities to play I’d say. As long as you are willing to adapt a little as a band.

IE: Why is the government closing down some of the venues?

Ernst: There has been a really big cut in the budget the last few years. The way that the system used to work here is that venues got (partly) subsidized by the government. The government stopped doing this because of the financial crisis we are in. Money needs to be saved and culture is one of the things that is being cut. Which means that for example ticket prices are going up, and a venue that was open Thursday to Sunday now only opens up on Friday and Saturday and can take less risks when it comes to booking bands than they could before. They only try to get acts and DJ's that guarantee a lot of people in. But since everybody is stuck in this crisis, people seem to keep their money in their pockets. The vicious circle isn't hard to see right?

IE: Is it just Rotterdam and Amsterdam, or are there other good hardcore scenes within your country?

Cindy: Holland is pretty small. You can drive from north to south in about 3 hours so I would say that The Netherlands has a scene… Active bands in pretty much every niche of hardcore and there is a good amount of people that come to shows. We have a couple of E-zines as well.

IE: You guys are from Rotterdam, but most people from outside of your country probably think of Amsterdam when it comes to The Netherlands. What are the differences between the 2 cities? 

Ernst: There are quite a lot. Amsterdam has a lot more venues, bars and squats to play than Rotterdam. Rotterdam is quite sober when it comes down to that. Lots of places are closed down in the last few years. Although it doesn’t really effect us (we play most of our shows abroad) it’s still really fucked up because it’s getting quite impossible as a band starting out to get shows in our area. That being said, because of the lack of good places to play you see that bands from our area (Rotterdam) that are starting out a bit more hardcore when it comes down to getting things done for themselves.

IE: You have a new album out called “To Live and Die For.” Can you tell us about it? 

Ernst: In August 2011 our drummer at the time, Richard left us on good terms. Being friends with the dude for almost 20 years I can do nothing more than support him in his decision. He felt like he achieved all that he wanted to achieve in this band and decided to focus on other stuff in life. He co-founded the band and although his departure didn’t come as a real surprise it still felt like a good smack in the face.It hurt a bit in the beginning but eventually became quite a blessing, because it made us stop for a good second and look at our accomplishments so far and goals for the future. Giving us a perfect inspiration to write songs. We feel truly blessed with what we have achieved so far. The rest of All For Nothing were eager to continue with what we love to do. We found a new drummer (Jim) pretty quick and started writing songs while being on the road with Sick Of It All in October… (Talk about a highlight). But like I said, looking back on all the highs and lows we had in the last couple of years and turning all our negative experiences into a positive outlet and celebrating our positive vibes and achievements into a bunch of the most honest songs we have ever written. 

IE: Can you explain the title and the cover artwork? 

Ernst: It’s a phrase we came up with talking about the subject in the previous question.
In a way it represents all we experienced. We gave the title to our friend Chris of Black Cloud Design and asked him for his interpretation of the title. We are really pleased with the result.

IE: What is your favorite track off of the new album?

Ernst: “Without A Doubt”, because to most people it might be “just” a hardcore song, which is totally cool, but for me personally it’s a shout out to the people that stand close to us. Both in hardcore and outside. The fact that Craig Ahead from Sick Of It All sings some lines on it is the icing on the cake for us.

IE: What songs are you doing the videos for?

Ernst: We are doing "Dead To Me" and “Twisted Tongues" in one video.

IE: Are you completely satisfied with how “To Live And Die For” came out?

Cindy: Yeah totally. I mean these are the songs we want to write and play. It’s our way of getting things off of our chest. It’s a direct reflection on our experiences and I hope that people can relate to it. So far the reactions have been really cool.

IE: Where would you like to see All For Nothing in 5 years? 

Ernst: Doing the same things that we do now, making the music we love. We never cared about being big or popular. We just try to do our best. If people like it that’s a big compliment. 

IE: Anything else that we may have missed or that you would like to add before we finish?  

Ernst: We love to meet new people all around the world. Get in touch!  

www.facebook.com/allfornothinghc OR band@allfornothing.nl