Bones brigade A BAND OF FOUR YOUNG Beantown punks, Bones Brigade, named its first record I Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding. What else do you need to know about them? First off, some people have pads older than these guys, who range in age from 18 to 22. The youngest--singer Brian--is still in high school and has to work band practice around little things like homework and taking out the trash. It's a big decision: Harvard or hardcore? For Brian, the school of hard knocks is the logical choice. "It's pretty sick," says Brian. "My parents are going crazy with me touring, but whatever." The band got together when guitarist Charlton Hessian and Phil "Skulls" Harwood, the band's bass player, met at Northeastern University. The pair took daily trips on the train to skate downtown Boston where they met Mullet, their drummer. All three had been in bands before, so it seemed natural to get something going. All the bad music they were hearing on skate videos made it pretty easy to decide what to play. "There's just not enough punk in skating anymore," says Skulls. Like a lot of skate rock bands, the kids in Bones Brigade didn't have much of a plan other than skating and playing punk rock. In fact, they say they only had three goals when they started the band--to have people listen to them while they were skating, to get kids into skating, and to get written up in Thrasher. Congratulations boys, you've made it to the top! "We can all die now," says Skulls. Actually, these guys probably have quite a bit ahead of them, judging by what they've accomplished so far. With the energy of youth and junk food fueling its fire, it didn't take long for Bones Brigade to get noticed. The band started playing out and recording whenever they weren't skating, and soon a tape of their songs found its way into the hands of hardcore legend John Porcell, who immediately recognized the honest simplicity and precision of Bones Brigade. "He just flipped his lid," says Skulls. Porcell signed Bones Brigade to his up-and coming Fight Fire With Fire label, recording and releasing/ Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding. Another record is already in the works. What Bones Brigade lacks in age it more than makes up for in raw punk power. I Hate Myself When I'm Not Skateboarding is packed with shotgun-blast songs about skating, rocking out and having fun. They were four bored kids, two of them caught in the monotony of the typical post-teen 9 to 5 grind, the other two lost in a sea of irrelevant and seemingly pointless college classes. For these kids, their only release was skateboarding and hardcore. In 2002, Andrew, Blake, Phill and Mullet combined their two saving graces and formed BONES BRIGADE, the latest punk rock sensation from the mecca of hardcore, Boston MA. Part American Nightmare, part Suicidal Tendencies, this band crosses all boundaries with their fast and furious skate-core anthems. Although their music is as extreme as the sport they enthuse, their songs retain a catchiness and accessibility that has crowds singing and stagediving along in multitudes. Simply put, BONES BRIGADE has an emotional impact that the everyday kid with frustrations and a skateboard can relate to. So fuck school, fuck work, fuck the world – grab your deck and put the "rad" back into your life with BONES BRIGADE. There are few certainties in life. You see people losing their jobs, you see people losing their money, and you see very little stability. But, some things never change. Ninjas are awesome and hardcore played at light speed rules. Seizing on these ideas, Bones Brigade has recorded an album that is not only fast and tight, but also fun to listen to. For a few kids who recorded this because of their love for skateboarding and their boredom with the daily grind, Bones Brigade sound very seasoned. Phil "Skulls" Harwood now plays in Boston's Ramming Speed and Blake is currently shredding with Coctopus.