IE: Where do we even start with this? Antidote has new music coming out for the first time in 21 years…Let’s get to that first if we can…

Nunzio: For Drew and myself this new recording represents a culmination of the best of the old and new hardcore we have played together since 1984 when he joined Antidote. At the time that the original line-up parted ways, we were just starting to play an entirely different set of songs than the ones that appeared on "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Songs such as “Live For Nothing”, “Unaffected”, and “Ignorance”, therefore remained unrecorded but were still major staples of our live show. These “transition” period songs leftover from the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” era, all worthy of the original EP, remained unrecorded until now.

IE: Drew, you joined the band shortly after the EP came out, correct?

Drew: I joined the band in 1984 a few months after "Thou Shalt Not Kill" was released. I was in a NYHC band called "The High & The Mighty" and before that when I was up in Boston going to Emerson College I was in "The Mighty C.O.'s".

IE: So here we are in 2012 and on November 13th you’re putting out a new record on Bridge 9. What’s the feeling like within the band in regards to getting the new songs out there finally? Is it more relief? Anticipation? What’s the mood like with you guys?

Nunzio: I'm psyched about “No Peace In Our Time”. We kept this record true to the original hardcore ideals and approached it as a "live” recording, with just one pass allowed for overdubs or fixes. So what you'll hear on it is us, pretty much live with one pass allowed for my lead guitar track and the background vocal track. I think it captured our live sound almost perfectly. 

Drew: It's about fucking time. It's been a long hard road and I'm looking forward to the music finally getting out there. 

IE: Tell us more about the new record like how many songs it will be, the approximate running time, and what you think some of the standout tracks are… 

Drew: I know every band says the same thing about their new album but the whole album is pretty good. There's 10 songs and runs about 20 minutes. "The Hate Machine", "Don't Blame Me" and "Rise Above" (Black Flag cover with Roger Miret) stand out.

IE: From start to finish how long did it take you to write and record these new tracks that are on the way?

Drew: 21 years.

Nunzio: The entire record was recorded, overdubbed, and handed to us, 10 songs, in 8 hours.

IE: You mentioned that some of these tracks off of the new release are from the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" era. What is the time frame that the rest of these new songs were written?

Drew: A few of the songs are from the early 80's "Thou Shalt Not Kill" era; "Live For Nothing", "Ignorance", "Time Is Right, “Ready To Fight" and "Unaffected". Last year Nunzio wrote "Conspiracy Of None", "Don't Blame Me", "Not Like Them" and then we collaborated on "The Hate Machine" and "No Peace In Our Time". Of course "Rise Above" is our take on the Black Flag classic. Our old friend Roger Miret from Agnostic Front does some vocals with me on that one.

Nunzio: “Conspiracy of None” was written right before I moved to CA a year ago, "Don't Blame Me" and "Not Like Them" were done right after I re-located, during that first month.

IE: The new record was originally called "State Of Hypocrisy". Why did you change the title?

Drew: "State Of Hypocrisy" was the working title of the record. As the recording progressed it seemed that "No Peace In Our Time" was a more appropriate title for the body of work. The headlines and strife that were going on at the time certainly influenced the decision as well and as soon as we saw the photo that we used for the cover it was a lock. 

IE: What kind of stuff do u listen to that isn't hardcore related and would you say any of it influenced your writing on the new album?

Nunzio: Writing songs for the new Antidote, I found myself digging into all of my old hardcore favorites for inspiration, and tried to get back to the way I used to feel when I listened to stuff like Minor Threat, The Bad Brains, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, DOA etc; filling myself with that old-school, feel good feeling of powerful, uplifting music in order to prepare myself to write some new material in that style. I also had to filter years of shitty music out of my head. You know, like Green Day. 

Drew: As far as my end of things goes this album is influenced by Minor Threat, early Black Flag, Negative Approach, early SS Decontrol, Bad Brains and The Clash to name a few.

IE: I wanted to touch on "The Rock Years" of Antidote...You released “Return to Burn” in the early 90’s and it is pretty near impossible to find. From what I've read from reviews and from the fact you don't play any of those songs live I am lead to believe you’re not exactly thrilled about those tracks. What was going on within the band musically back then?

Nunzio: The Antidote “Rock Years” were a good and valuable learning experience for us. The first thing that I learned is, if you change styles, and change genres, change your friggn’ bands name. I also learned that there is no audience in all of music like the hardcore/punk crowds. They give it their all, and will let you know when they love you, and if you suck. I don't regret "Return To Burn" musically, there were a few good songs on it. But the production, mix, and artwork were all overdone and made us look kind of silly in retrospect. Musically, that’s what we were feeling at the time. 

Drew: I agree that it was overdone and the production is brutal. That said there is a remake of "Something Must Be Done" on there as well as the old High & The Mighty A7 classic "Road Warrior". Strangely enough when we play live these days there are always a few people who bark out requests for some of those songs off that record so go figure.

IE: “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is right up there with some of the legendary hardcore punk releases. Are you ever surprised that a 10 minute EP from almost 30 years ago has kept our attention for so long?

Nunzio: Another thing I thought I knew after those "Rock Years" was that “nobody cares what you did LAST YEAR, let alone 20 years ago”. I really believed this. But I was proven wrong as far as “Thou Shalt Not Kill” was concerned. I found out that if something is undeniably good, people will always remember it. That is what drove us to want to record “No Peace in our Time”, and make a new record for ALL hardcore fans of today. 

IE: When you guys started out hardcore was influenced more by the early punk bands. These days metal is a huge influence on hardcore bands and in a lot of cases you can't tell the difference between what is presented as metal and what is hardcore. What's your take on the sound of a lot of the more metallic style hardcore bands play and are there any that you particularly like and follow?

Nunzio: I don't follow bands the way that I did when I first got involved in the hardcore scene, but my girlfriends son Tyler has played some of the bands he listens to for me like Backtrack, Trapped Under Ice, Soul Search so I'm not totally clueless about the hardcore bands of today. When "Thou Shalt Not Kill" first came out, some people heard the metal influences on it. Metal had all the great guitar players so of course that influence comes out in the music. The metal of the late 90’s and 2000’s, is a different style of metal than what I grew up listening to like Sabbath, KISS and AC/DC so it stands to reason that the writers in today’s bands use that influence in their music. 

IE: Getting back to Antidote of today…You have some California dates coming in November which marks the first time the band will be playing on the West Coast. Why is it just two dates though?

Drew: Antidote is not a "touring band". However now that Nunzio is living out in Huntington Beach CA and the new record is coming out and "xxx ALL AGES xxx… The Boston Hardcore Film” that I directed is screening in Hollywood it seemed like a good time for Antidote to finally play the West Coast for the first time.That said we are looking to go over to Europe and play some shows in 2013.

IE: Drew, you are a filmmaker and you mentioned that you directed the “All Ages…The Boston Hardcore Film” film. Can you tell us a little about your ties to Boston and the Boston hardcore scene and how you got involved with the making of this movie?

Drew: In August of 1981 I went up to Emerson College in Boston Mass. to study acting. Soon after my arrival I was introduced to a guy in the Emerson cafeteria who had his head shaved. At the time the only people that had their heads shaved were Marines and psychopaths. He told me that his name was "Choke" and he was into this "Hardcore" thing. "Hardcore"? I replied "What do you mean hardcore? Like The B-52's, Joan Jett or Blondie"? I didn't have a fucking clue what he was getting at so after trying to explain it to me for a while we decided the best way for me to understand the whole thing was to just go and experience it for myself. So a few days later we trooped to downtown Boston and into an old factory building to a place called the Media Workshop for a Sunday matinee show. As fate would have it, it was one of SS Decontrol's first shows and it turned out to be a pivotal point in my life. There were about 30 people there and everyone in attendance was my age or younger. There were no drugs or alcohol around which was very strange to me coming from a very different environment back in New York City. I felt very connected to what was going on in the room and jumped right into the melee. Regardless to say that after that I was swept up in the burgeoning early Boston hardcore scene which to say the least was an extremely exciting time. After two years up in Boston and crapping out of Emerson College I came back to New York City to work in the film business and eventually started "The High & The Mighty" and from there joined Antidote. 

IE: You also told me your father was an accomplished film maker is his own right. Can you tell us a little about his work and how he influenced and possibly brought you into this kind of work?

Drew: My father, Arny Stone grew up in the South Bronx and made his way from being a messenger bringing film to the lab in between rounds of boxing matches back in the old days to being an accomplished film director. He won an Academy Award for his film, "The Critic" starring Mel Brooks. My brother Evan B. Stone is also a film director, editor and cinematographer. His credits include Syfy’s “Destination Truth”, CBS’s “The Amazing Race”, MTV's “True Life”, and Current TV. Basically I grew up in a creative family in and around the film business of New York City.

IE: Another thing that comes into play when going to see Antidote play live is Drew’s stage attire. You have to get the award for the best dressed front man in hardcore. When did you start wearing suits and hats on stage and what made you start doing this?

Drew: Well let's just say as I get well into my 40's I just don't feel comfortable in jeans, T-shirts and baseball caps these days. The Clash have always been a huge influence on us with their music as well as their style. 

IE: I am guessing that everyone in the band is now at least in their 40’s. Does it ever feel weird when you go to shows and see that you are playing for kids that can be more than half your age and playing songs that were written before most of them were born?

Drew: No not at all. It's great that the majority of our audience these days are young kids. I think that if it was all people our age coming to the shows we would have folded the band again in 2008 after playing a few of the "reunion" shows that we did at the time.

Nunzio:  For myself, I think it’s great that so many good young bands have picked up the hardcore torch and are doing it their way. Being in one of the O.G. hardcore bands is like an honor almost, and it’s something that I'm very proud to have been a part of.