Les dannois sont les maitre europeen dans le style NYHC herite de MADBALL. une petite interview s'imposait !

For those who still don't kow BARCODE, would you be nice enough to introduce your band with a short history ?
Sure, Barcode is a hardcore act that started out 10 years ago. We've put out 4 full length albums and toured Europe several times and played hundreds of shows along with such acts as Madball, Pro-Pain, Backfire, Murphy's Law, Skarhead, Born from Pain, etc.

Your line-up has known a few changes in the past/recently. What were the reasons behind these problems ?
Basically, the same boring story as has been heard thousands of times before: People who didn't really suit the rest of the band - musically or personally. I do think, however, that the present line-up is the best line-up ever.

Your brand new cd "SHOWDOWN" is just released. What are the things you wanted to improve between "Hardcore" and the new one ? What are the main differences between this new cd and he others ?
First off; it's not like we wanted to improve anything from "Hardcore". We still think this is a great album. But clearly, 3 years have passed and we've changed over the years so obviously the songwriting has improved. I think the in-your-face sound and overall musical consistency of Showdown is close to perfection.

I would say that you're music is the european version of pure "New York Hardcore" as it was played in 1990. Do you agree with this comparaison ?
Not quite. We've always been compared to the oldschool NY bands and we're really honoured being labelled this way. However, if you check out albums from around 1990 and compare it to Showdown I believe you'll agree that a lot has happened stylistic as well as production-wise. In my opinion NY bands of that time were much more influenced by punk than Barcode. We incorporate a lot of heavy break down mosh parts which is clearly inspired by the metal scene, not the punk scene.

Which of the following bands is your biggest influence : MADBALL, BIOHAZARD, AGNOSTIC FRONT, CRO-MAGS ?
That's an easy one: MADBALL.

Your music is usually played by band living in getho town as New York. Is there any getho in Denmark ? Where are you coming from ?
Yes, there are ghettos in Denmark, but clearly not to the extent as you see in NY. Denmark is probably one of the world's most well-organized welfare societies. That's why we don't sing about social decay, poverty, and ghetto life. This would be fake.

Let's talk about the lyrics. What kind of topic did you write about ?
Check out the attached lyrics. Generally, our songs are blows to selfrighteous pigs of any kind - all who put themselves, their ideas and beliefs above everybody else. No one is spared! But basically, our lyrics are open for the listener's personal interpretation. Not to be snobbish or arty, but I really think our lyrics are pretty straight forward, and besides that, we're not gonna give you any further "interpretational keys".

Who did draw the cover artwork of your cd ? What does it represent for you ?
It's done by an American (Adam Hansel). I think it's a visually strong anti-violence representation, but to be quite honest, we just gave Adam free hands to do whatever he wanted. We sent him a rough mix of the album which inspired him to do this layout. And we're really happy about it.

You've recorded some nice covers recently for a POISON IDEA tribute and a Megadeth cover for a thrash tribute. why did you accept to contribute to these tribute cds ?
The Megadeth cover was an easy decision. We're all old metal-heads, so covering one of old school faves was an honour. The Poison Idea thing was a bit more tricky. None of us had ever heard of P.I. prior to this tribute. However, the guy who did the tribute was a great fan of Barcode and he asked if we'd please do a contribution. We had some considerations before doing it because we felt a bit like "hey, people shouldn't think we're doing this just to score points pretending to be oldschool punk/hc". But then again, as always: we turn whatever song into a Barcode song, so we took this opportunity to prove that we can also make a lousy punk song actually sound good!

"hardcore" is growing again. Do you consider your deal to sign with Nuclear blast as being just an opportnity for them to have a "real" hardcore band in their ranks or do you think they will be more open to hardcore in the next years ?
Clearly, they run a business and they've of course noticed that the hardcore scene is growing steadily so they probably wanted to grab the cream of that scene, Agnostic Front and Barcode, ha ha. No honestly, I have no knowledge of their reasons for signing hardcore acts.

What are you thinking about all these new metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall or Unearth ?
I don't know them. I'm not into metalcore - to me it sounds like old Napalm Death.

Do you think there are keeping the hardcore spirit alive or they have nothing to do with your hardcore definition ?
I truly don't see why people wanna label it hardcore. I see far more elements of a jumble of old metal rahter than hardcore in this type of music.

Will you tour throught Europe soon ?
For the summer period we will play a few shows here and there (check out our website for updates) and try to line up as many festival gigs as possible. I think maybe we're going on tour during the autumn.

Did you ever heard some french hardcore or metal bands from France ?
No, I don't think so. Are there any? Back in the old days I used to listen to H Bomb, Trust, Aggressor and Morsure.

A few words for our readers !
We've never played France - but we'd really love to. So please go punk your local venue/organizer/festival whatever to book Barcode.