Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Jose Galvan interview

For those of you who don't know, Jose has long been an icon to me and the rest of Reno. As you will read in the interview, he has a lot to say and has some valid points. Jose is a fucking stalwart of the NCRA community and a great dude. You should all take note, he could learn ya a thing or ten.......
1. Lets get to the compulsory questions - What is your name and what do you do?

HA! This question reminds me of "Kindergarten Cop"
"Who is your daddy, and what does he do?"
My name is Jose Galvan, I am a full time husband and father, I am a telecommunications drone. (meaning I work with with signals - voice video data).
In my spare time I read lots and eat lots.
I'm an online wiseass and all around teller of tales.
Basically I'm a family man who dabbles in hobbies that I used to be obsessed with.

2. Where are you from? How long have you been Vegan Edge?

I'm originally from San Francisco but now proclaim Sacramento as my adopted hometown.
I've been sxe since a little after high school (I graduated in 1988) and vegan since the mid 90s.
There's only one more person who's still around from my era of straight edge

3. You are a daddy now, what kind of things does your child need to know to make it in this shithole?


Faith.Hope.Sanity.Love. I'm going to try and instill these in her so the world doesn't get her down.
She has a clean slate, a loving family and nothing to stop her.
She definitely will need to believe in herself and in real family in order to survive and thrive.

4. Dude, you have been involved in the scene for years, what is the one thing in our community (hardcore community) that makes you cringe? What is the one thing that makes you proud to be, proud to be, Straightedge?!?!?!

One thing that makes me cringe: just the general attitude in hardcore nowadays that forgets about the meaning in the songs.
"They played the part, and they wore the right clothes, but they didn't know, what the fuck it meant"
I think Mike Judge said it best back then and it still rings true today.

Here's something that I came up with recently:
I am straight edge IN SPITE OF not because of the hardcore scene.
I have attended one show in the last few months, and will most likely not see another one soon (unless I see a metal show with Death Metal Dan)
I am proud that in 2005, straight edge is still represented by good dudes from coast to coast.
From Reno to Salt Lake to Seattle to Syracuse....
There are STILL dudes like you and the rest of the Reno SXE who are still down even though it's not "cool" anymore.
Living a lifestyle of self preservation and the pursuit of righteousness, is always something to be proud of.
I have no intention of selling out, but my lifestyle will endure even if the label dies away.
I have every intention of taking this to the grave.
This is how I live my life, it's more than just a t shirt.

5. Why is it that the in the late 80's to mid 90's were so good. Do you think the advent of the internet watered down the history of it? I mean, I got my info from zines and word of mouth, now you can go to a message board and be a genius, like you were there. WTF?

You hit the nail on the head. I think that there's more of an appreciation for things if you have to work for them.
It used to be a big deal to hear a new band, to see a show in another town, to meet another hardcore kid.
Besides the internet, I think that sheer numbers have a lot to do with why the 'good old days' were.
Nowadays there are hundreds and thousands of kids getting into hardcore.
Back then, if you saw someone on a skateboard, a bmx bike, wearing a suicidal tendencies or corrosion of conformity t shirt, you were stoked!
Wearing a band shirt now, and seeing another hardcore kid, the "nod" is rarely exchanged.
It's definitely not that big of a deal for someone to be involved in hardcore nowadays.
You buy some shirts, go to a show. Bam. Instant "CORE".
Sure you can get tattoos or whatever, but they are optional.
Having a smaller community also meant that kids in bands were just that.
Kids in bands.
There wasn't as much of a division between bands and the crowd, everyone was the same!
Nowadays it seems like there are bands, hardcore bands even, that act like rockstars.
That's BS.
I also blame the kids who put these guys on pedestals nowadays.
They are in a band. It's no big deal!
So someone comes up with catchy tunes.
Rad. They are still average dudes!
In order for hardcore to be radder, it needs to be more of a community and less of a social scene.
I predict that once this wave of popularity tanks, things will improve.


6. Big shit has gone down lately, like the shooting in Phoenix. What do you attribute to this?

Deaths and violence in hardcore are nothing new. We just have the internet now so we can hear about these things easily now.
In the early 90's my friend Paul Carallo and Aragorn fought nazi at the cattle club and were both stabbed.
Paul never survived the attack and died.
I've witnessed beatings, violence, all sorts of horrible crap.
The first show I ever attended was probably the most violent.
In 1988 DRI played in Sacramento, and 3/4ths of the crowd were seig heiling nazis.
At the end of the night, it erupted into a full on riot with police throwing tear gas into the club and fighting spilling out into the street.
I saw a guy swinging a chain on some dude and another guy get thrown onto a car.
What's different now?
Now it's hardcore kid vs hardcore kid.
Crew vs crew.
Different groups of hardcore kids fighting each other instead of the real enemy.
Not very productive...

7. Do you thing the whole wiggario mentality has fueled the "harder than a brick sandwich" mentality?

These questions are awesome because they are all related to the previous one...
There's a lot of people who have yet to feel the consequences for their answer.
To quote Sick Of It All "Someday, your luck will fail, then you'll wind up dead or jailed!"

8. Speaking of hip-hop culture, why does mainstream rap suck so bad?

I have no idea dude. Look, I joke around about this a lot but I mean it, I really don't like rap!
I never liked the message, it's mostly women hating pro-drug garbage.
You know me, when have I ever e
Yeah yeah there's one or two "intelligent hip hoppers" who are basically communists and far left weirdos.
No thanks!
I also really don't care who is the biggest and the baddest rapper.
I'll quote someone else this time "Because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing
to me about my life so hang the blessed DJ"

9. George bush doesn't care about black people?

Not true!
I've never met the guy but I think he likes black people a lot more than people in his own state do.

10. What makes Amy so fucking rad?

She's my best friend, she's a voice of sanity, and she laughs at my stupid jokes and puts up with my friends.
She's beautiful inside and out, greets me with a kiss each day and is an awesome mom.
I miss her every day I go to work, and get excited to drive home to see her and Elsa.
She's thoughtful, considerate, and selfless.


11. Reno is your second home, what is your fondest memory?

I have way too many hilarious/scary/awesome memories of that town.
left hand, casa margaritas, making dean the scene cry,driving there to see hatebreed and puking immediately after their set from moshing
Hatebreed playing to about 20 of us in that record store that sold white power records, and then jumping onto said records to dive on our friends.
The Bomb Shelter - Jason's birthday party at your house, waterballoons at snapcase,
Visiting mike ward and just listening to him spew hatred is always good.
Brandon and I saw David Coverdale of Whitesnake in Wild Oats.
Hahah! Death Metal Dan and I slept under a pool table at Mike and Glen's trailer in LEMON VALLEY before a 25 ta life show years ago.
Then of course, there's the ruckuses, but we always go over those when we hang out so I won't go there!
I love the Reno Hardcore and the Reno SxE scene, which are pretty much synonymous, but there are tons of dudes that aren't sxe that are good people.
Things are better in Reno.


12. Emo moment? Do you need a hug?

I'm always down for hugs dude, you know this!

13. Last but not least, it is close to XXX-mas, what do you want to see under your tree?

I'm a capitalist but not a materialist. I have all the things I could possibly want.
All I am hungering for now are bigger and better versions of those same material things.
IE fancier camera, fancier recording equipment etc.
My beautiful baby girl is seriously the best early Christmas present ever :)
I have the gift of life love and family every single day I wake up, what else can a guy want?

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