IE: Give us a rundown on who is currently in the band since there have been a lot of changes since your last EP came out.

Ezec: Aaron is on guitar, Mitts is on guitar, Goat on drums, Little Tony on bass, I’m singing and Lu is sick right now so Boston Mike is singing his parts.

IE: What happened with Lu and how is he doing right now?

Ezec: He was diagnosed with two forms of cancer. Cancer of the lymph nodes is one of them. We were on tour in St. Louis and he just couldn’t feel the top part of his chest. We were all regularly working out and he was just getting skinnier too. Right now he is almost finished with his treatments. Boston Mike is doing his parts and there are actually three singers in the band. At the time that we were on tour we didn’t know Lu had cancer. He took a plane home and the doctors were saying it might be cancer, it might not be cancer but we didn’t know at the time. Lu looks great right now. He wants to get back in the band right now but he can’t. He’s out of the hospital but he has to take shots everyday so there is no way he can go on tour right now. Lu looks way better than he did.

IE: Skarhead has a new record coming out in January on Victory Records. If I told you this a year ago you probably wouldn’t have believed me. How did everything come about with this deal?

Ezec: (Laughing) If you told me that a year ago I probably wouldn’t have known what Victory was! I don’t know how the deal came about, it just fell into our laps. Our management was talking with Tony Victory. They wanted us and had heard a lot about us and stuff like that. They’ve been really good to us. We went on tour twice since we hooked up with them and we are going again. Later this month we have a week of shows set up with the Misfits and Gwar. They gave us tour support twice and we didn’t even give them a demo or anything. Before that the only time I actually talked to Tony from Victory was when I threatened that band Integrity and One Life Crew. I told them that I was going to kill everyone on Victory.

IE: So doesn’t that make it more ironic that you end up doing a record with Victory?

Ezec: Yeah. I lost my head for a little while but I still hate those bands. They can’t play anyway because they’re never together really.

IE: Give us a little info on the new record that’s coming out in January. How many records are you doing with them?

Ezec: The deal is just a one and off. That’s the typical Skarhead way. Mike Dijan taught me that. If this record does well and we sell a lot of records then we’ll do it again. The record is going to be called “Kings At Crime” and there are 15 songs. We recorded the music in Utica, NY and the vocals were done at Big Blue Meanie in Hackensack. Sal from Demonspeed produced it and engineered it. Guest vocalists? Man, just a bunch of retards. Mark Ryan from Supertouch, Craig Setari from Creep Division and Sick Of It All. Creep Division is a good name for him. Roger Agnostic Front, Freddy Madball, Jimmy from Murphy’s Law, John Joseph, Jorge from El Nino, Toby from H2O. 

Below: Another Planet Records advertisement for the "Drugs, Money, Sex" EP released in 1995

IE: The word on Victory is that they take care of their bands really well. How have you found them to be so far?

Ezec: They treat us lovely. The best label I have ever been on. Tour support equals money and since we have no money that is what we really need. They give us money to rent a van and we use their credit card for stuff like that. Basically they give us a van and we drive out, we tour and that’s it. They started pushing the record last month and it’s not even coming out until January. I’m really happy with them.

IE: So far the newer Skarhead material has been really different from the “Drugs, Money, Sex” EP. Who has been writing the new stuff and is sounding different something you are trying to do or is it just the way it is coming out?

Ezec: Right now it’s me, Lu, Little Tony and Aaron. I play the guitar and bass so I write some of the music also. As for it sounding different, that’s just the way it’s coming out. It’ll be me in the studio and I’ll ask a friend to come down and that’s that. I don’t listen to a lot of hardcore except for the old stuff but I guess we are a hardcore band because that is what we play and that is what we grew up with. Some songs are a little on the oi side but I don’t even listen to oi. The song with Toby in it has a little oi-ish flavor. We have a new one called “BQE-Brooklyn Queens Experience” where Jorge and I sing on. It has an oi-ish type chorus.

IE: There has been a big overhaul in band members since the last EP. How did you find this current lineup?

Ezec: Mitts is a whiteboy from Long Island and he just plays the guitar really well. He’s like a Dijan. Mitts is a friend of Little Tony and he also played in the last lineup of Crown Of Thornz. Tony is a good friend of mine and he used to play drums for Sub-Zero. He can also play guitar. Goat used to drum for Murphy’s Law and Crown Of Thornz. Boston Mike is just a friend that I knew. He takes the Greyhound down from Boston right now but he might move here soon. Lu is another friend. He used to sing for Sub-Zero and he just called me up and wanted to do it. It’s just friends of mine. Goat lives right down the block from me in Jackson Heights. It seems like everyone lives in Jackson Heights, the hardcore capital of the world. 

IE: You are the only one remaining from the last EP. Why the big turnover?

Ezec: Skarhead was originally just a project that I wanted to do and I asked Mike Dijan if he wanted to do it. The music…anybody can write hardcore music. Mike Dijan is a great guitar player but I kind of wanted to do my own thing. That’s why we got rid of Crown Of Thornz. Skarhead was my idea originally and that’s where we are at right now.

IE: What happened to that guy Deep who was on the last EP?

Ezec: Deep is working for the mob, the Russian mob so he can’t leave the state because of some federal indictment or something like that. That’s my boy. He doesn’t even listen to hardcore and he did that with us. He was in a hardcore band in 1987 called Arrogant Response. We got him to do a few songs and that was it.

IE: Especially on the road do you still get a ot of kids asking for Crown Of Thornz?

Ezec: We do a Crown Of Thornz cover song sometimes. “No Remorse” off of “Mentally Vexed”. We’ll do that or “Icepick” and the kids usually go crazy. 

IE: Is there any chance that Crown Of Thornz will get back together?

Ezec: Hell no! Kids ask me and I tell them that Dijan is doing Breakdown and I’m doing Skarhead and that’s all. With Skarhead I feel so much better because I can write music and with Crown Of Thornz I couldn’t do that because the music was all Mike’s. Me, Franklin, and Dijan started Crown Of Thornz but with Skarhead it’s like my thing. It’s my project. I write some music and everyone else can chip in. We’re all friends and we hang out all the time too. It was better for us to expand. Crown Of Thornz was good and I liked it but I could see Skarhead getting bigger. More different styles, image also on stage. 

IE: And what is Skarhead’s image on stage?

Ezec: Just like hoods! A crazy bunch of fucks.

IE: So are you looking at Skarhead as something that is long term or something that you are taking as you go along?

Ezec: I see it long term. We’ll try and make some money and I’d say the next four or five years wouldn’t be out of the picture.

IE: You don’t hide the fact that you are trying to make money from the band and other things your involved with. Why do some people in the hardcore scene have such a hard time with people making money off of the scene?

Ezec: That’s because they are stupid. They are a bunch of kids who don’t even know what a bill is. They live at home with mommy and daddy and live in the nice suburbs but then again when they hit our age they will understand. It’s all about the money. Karl from Earth Crisis has a kid and he signed to a big label and he needs more money. All these bands, all my friends think it’s fun to go out on the road and play to these little kids. Basically I just want to get paid.

IE: What’s a legitimate goal for the band to reach by this time next year?

Ezec: (Laughing) To fucking make a lot of money. To make a lot of money and have a tour bus I guess. I’m getting tired of driving around in a van with 7 guys and a pitbull. I don’t know how we do it with all the equipment and everything. Half of us sleep in the van and the others in a hotel. The good thing about hardcore is that kids invite you to stay in their house and you can save some money that way. Most of the time somebody wants to stay in the van just to get away from everyone else. 

IE: You recently had 2 separate split 7”s put out on Triple Crown Records. Why did they both only have yourself on vocals and how do you think they came out?

Ezec: One was “Crazy Eddie” and the other was “Rebirth”. There are some songs that I do by myself. “Rebirth’ is a song that I wrote and I wanted to record it right there on the spot. I think that’s a great song. A lot of people say they are into “Crazy Eddie” but I’m not really into it. It’s more of a rock ‘n roll type of song. “Rebirth” is my favorite Skarhead song. It is about my friend Yas who passed away. I knew him for about 6 years. He was on drugs and he committed suicide. It’s an anti-drug song.

IE: You guys have been getting a bad reputation for showing up late to shows and cancelling others. What’s your response?

Ezec: We’re not late anymore. We didn’t really care about that “Alive And Well” show in Asbury Park and that benefit show for Big Charlie we didn’t play because we were on tour. There are a lot of bands that are later than us. H2O is later than us, Hatebreed is way later than us.

IE: For a little while you had a hand in your own tattoo shop here in Queens called Murder Ink. How did you get involved with that and why aren’t you doing it anymore?

Ezec: Just a friend and I opened it up and I’m not doing it anymore because it’s better off  and I’m not doing it anymore because it’s better off not to do business with your friends. I want to open another store here in Jackson Heights and have one of my good friends run it while we are out on tour. 

IE: Murder Ink had a big fire and was shut down for a while. What happened with that situation?

Ezec: I don’t know. It was on the front page of the Newsday and was on NY1 News. Figures with my life. 

SKARHEAD'S "KINGS AT CRIME" LINEUP CIRCA 1998. EZEC FAR LEFT

IE: The band, the tattoo shop and the clothing line all involve aspects of the hardcore scene. Do you see yourself making your living off of things like this for years to come or do you just take it for what it is at the moment?

Ezec: I don’t know. It depends on how big Skarhead gets. The more money Skarhead makes the more I can put into something else. The more connections I get… the better. With the clothing you can always do what is in at the time. Look back a couple of years when those Batman shirts were really popular. You know how it is. You have to change with the times.

IE: In past interviews you have always stated that you are not really a big fan of current hardcore music. What kind of stuff do you like to listen to?

Ezec: There is nothing new out that’s really good. I listen to anything with sad female vocals. I like a lot of hip-hop but everybody knows that. The Sundays, Portishead, Bjork. I really like the Sundays a lot. As far as new hardcore bands go? I hate them all. The only reason I listen to Madball is because they are my friends. The new Agnostic Front I like, I like Rancid a lot. I don’t even like punk but I like Rancid because they have good production.

IE: If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 albums would you want along with you?

Ezec: “The Age Of Quarrel”. Does it have to be hardcore? The best of The Cure. You probably hate them. The Beatnuts’ first album. I don’t know what else. One of the Sundays albums I guess. 

-END OF '98 INTERVIEW