Kev Walsh interview

It seems strange that I’ve only got to know Kev last year despite the fact that his band the Down & outs have been doing the rounds for years (and I’ve seen them a few times). He decided to sell his record collection and Boardy hooked me up with him. We met up in Liverpool to exchange goods and cash and we hit it off straight away. He’s a good dude. That’s reason enough to ask him for an interview. Read on. (this is from October 2011).

 Hi Kev, how you’re doing today? How’s Liverpool after the riots the other
week, you were nearby weren’t you? Must have been worrying.
I'm good mate. The riots came past my house but Liverpool was real lucky to
be honest, we weren't hit as badly as Birmingham, Manchester, and of course
London. It seemed worse at the time because I could see it out of my window,
but then when you read the next days paper you realise it wasn't as bad at
all as what some people had to deal with. Where I live is between two of the
main areas of rioting, so they just kind of passed by my house on their way
from one place to another. Its also right between two big police stations so
there were always sirens buzzing and stuff.

How’s your new band doing Chris and the Zip codes , also when is the next
Down and outs album coming out?
Chris & The Zipcodes is going well, we're having a lot of fun doing it. It
came about when we were recording the new Down And Outs record. We had all
of the drums recorded and mixed, and then we foolishly managed to ruin the
hard drive we had it all recorded on which was really frustrating. Down And
Outs, when we are at our most productive, are still one of the laziest bands
in the UK. We practice most weeks, but spend most of our practicing time
either going to the shop for snacks, or playing ska versions of Enter
Sandman and Smells Like Teen Spirit. We do get things done, but we always
move at our own pace. I think thats just the way it goes when you only do
something because you enjoy it y'know? We'll finish the album, but when we
can be arsed. We've done most of the guitars, so at this point its just bass
and vocals left. But anyway, Zipcodes came about when we first lost the data
for the record, we wanted to keep practicing but were a little bit burnt out
on D&O's. Marko and me had been talking about how good it would be if Chris
was the frontman in a band, and I think we had a couple of riffs knocking
about that weren't quite Down & Outs songs, so one night we swapped
instruments and started playing a few songs, and thats how it started
really. We actually intended to just play one gig then never go near it
again, but its turned out to be a right laugh, so we've carried on. I
sometimes think that its just a big injoke that only we're in on, but people
seem to be into it so hopefully thats not the case.

You’ve been in a few bands haven’t you? Give us a list and a bit about each
band, in chronological order if you could.
Yeah, not as many as some, but I've done a couple over the years like. When
I was 13, me and my mate at the time started a band called Snakes And
Ladders. It was just the two of us and we wrote one song, called Death
Doesn't Hurt which we worded as Deth Doezn't Hert. You could argue that we
we're pioneers of the text message generation, since this was in 1992. There
were only two of us, both guitarists. But we used to practice the song sat
on my mates wheelie bins. I also remember the discussion we had about how we
would lay out the stage when (yes, WHEN) we we're headlining Donington. We
decided it would be good if we had the drummer playing on top of a big
massive toilet, and when we finished, we would pull a chain, and the drummer
would get flushed down the toilet. If I remember rightly, we even did a set
design for it. I say a set design, there was nothing by way of technical
information regarding how the set would work, it was just a drawing of a
drummer playing drums on a massive bog, with an arrow pointing to him saying
"Drummer gets flushed down bog". Thats as technical as you need to be when
you're 12 I think.

As for punk and hardcore bands, I did The Last Chance for a few years. I
left before the second "7 came out though. I was starting uni and didn't
want to commit to an out of town band that demanded so much of my time.
Especially because I had to take a new job where I was working most nights.
We started Seconds Out and Down And Outs at the same roughly. I remember
because I did my vocals for the Seconds Out demo and the Down And Outs demo
at the same time as they were both being recorded by Marko from D&O's.
Seconds Out was a Straight Edge band. We only recorded a demo, which people
weirdly still email me about today. I have no idea why. I loved Seconds Out
only for the fact that the band comprised of some of my best mates at the
time. I enjoyed meeting up and hanging out as we would go for curry after
every practice and every gig we played. Musically I think the problem with
SxO was that we all had such different influences, and that came through in
the music. Simon was really into the Deranged/My War records stuff at the
time. POI was into more metallic stuff, I just wanted to sound like Right
Brigade. Because of that clash of influences the music was always really
patchy, some people see that as a good thing maybe, I don't really. I'm not
slagging off the music anyone wrote by any stretch. The stuff POI comes up
with for Rot In Hell is fuckin mind blowing. I just think Seconds Out never
really had much by way of discipline or direction. There is a Seconds Out "7
recorded but without vocals. I can't see it ever surfacing. In the end, it
just pissed me off. I'd be writing stuff about council estates and the way I
grew up, and I'd be seeing people singing along and being really glad that I
was involved in something with people who had a similar upbringing to me,
but then I would get some glimpse of the reality of it, and seeing that most
of these people singing along to Seconds Out songs came from well nice
backgrounds and stuff, and it just turned me off to the whole thing. I've
never understood this culture of people trying to downplay a good
upbringing. It makes no sense to me. But not a lot does, I'm not the
cleverest of men. That was only part of it though. I was a little burnt out
on playing so much in different bands and all that, it wasn't really a laugh
anymore. So I fucked it off.

Down And Outs started at the same time and is still going today. Boss
Tuneage are going to be putting out the third album when we finally get
round to finishing it. It's a little more difficult for us to play gigs
these days as a few of us work long hours, one of us had a kid and stuff
like that. I keep getting asked at the few gigs I go to if we've split up.
We haven't, we just move at our own pace now we're all in our 30's and have
other stuff going on.

I do loads of other bands, but they only exist in my head. Some of them have
a few riffs recorded on GarageBand but thats the furthest I've ventured into
the real world with them. I am currently involved in the following imaginary
bands:

 - Skavenblight. This is my D-Beat band with songs about World Of Warcraft
and Warhammer.
 - A Black Metal band that has about 5 riffs.

How did you get into hardcore punk and what still keeps you involved?
I got into hardcore as many mid/late nineties recruits did. BIOHAZARD! I
still think that the breakdown in Business by Biohazard can hold its own
against any modern hardcore mosh part. I had Urban Discipline for a year or
two, then started getting into Downset and stuff, then moved on to Sick Of
It All, Madball etc. When I became aware of that kind of stuff as "Hardcore"
and not just metal, I noticed a few flyers around Liverpool for gigs in
Guinnans (which I'm sure you remember Mark) that were listed as Hardcore.
The first one I went to was Withdrawn, Assert, Violent World and Stampin
Ground. It was ok, a bit quiet. I remember Mark Boardman was there moshing
to Stampin Ground wearing this t-shirt that just said "Straight Edge" in the
shittest bubble writing ever. I only remember it because I remember thinking
he looked like the Pilsbury Dough Boy. I also talked to Gav Beckley at that
gig. He was the first person I ever talked to at a Hardcore gig. This all
happened at the height of "UKHC". And although I went to gigs for a year or
so before I actually started socialising with people other than people I
already knew from Liverpool, I kind of got swept along by it all. I
travelled to a few gigs in Sheffield and stuff seeing Earth Crisis with a
mate, and there I bought some of the Household Name stuff like the Imbalance
record which had just come out, and also managed to get hold of London
Hardcore by Knuckledust that Bri Sayle put out on Days Of Fury. I think at
the time that CD was close to selling out because I had a bit of a hard time
getting hold of it. From there it was all about reading thanks lists, sine
interviews and reviews to find out about new bands. I was hanging round with
a lad at the time who was way more on the ball than me called Dec, and he
got me into a lot of stuff as well. When I started travelling I started
knocking about with different people and staying with them. Before then, I
had been part of a group of mates in Kirkby which is where I'm from, and had
met a lot of people from being into metal and going to Rock Clubs even
though I was underage. (I think underage drinkers form the vast majority of
rock club goers. Imagine being a grown man and still getting Down With The
Sickness in the Krazy House every Saturday… No ta.)

After this it just kind of ticked along. I met Ian who did Dead And Gone
because I loved his band In The Clear, thats also how I met Steve Meader and
Simon Phillips. After a few years I did my first band The Last Chance.

As for staying involved. I'm not sure that I am involved in hardcore anymore
really. How do you gauge involvement? I post on the CTW messageboard from
time to time. But I don't actively contribute to "Hardcore" in whatever
incarnation it is in these days. I don't really know any one who is really.
I go to the odd gig in Liverpool, its VERY rare I will travel to see a band.
I don't really get anything out of it. If I were to travel, it would only be
on the premise that a lot of my friends were going to and I could get to see
them all at once and maybe go for a bite. If I am still involved, which I'm
not sure I am, I guess it would be the few friends I have managed to
maintain contact with and don't think I'm a prick that keep me tied to it.

Tell us a bit about yourself outside of the punk world. I believe you’re a
dab hand at painting warcraft models.
I used to play World Of Warcraft a lot. Its a good game. My account is
inactive at the moment as the guild I was playing in all stopped playing at
the beginning of the last expansion. I didn't want to go through the hassle
of trying to find a new guild comprised of grown ups who were all sound to
spend my time with, so I decided to knock it on the head for a bit. I'm
feeling the pull again now though. It's been a while since I've played and I
miss it a fair bit. I had some great times playing it, but towards the end
it was more about trying to recapture that feeling of discovering something
new, much like it was with hardcore. My last few years being actively
involved in hardcore were more about trying to get that feeling back of
something being new and fresh and exiting than they were about trying to
contribute or enjoy what was going on at that particular time. I speak about
it like I'm some old timer. But thats not the case. I got into it in the
late nineties (Hardcore this is, not Warcraft), skirted around the edges for
a few years, did a few years in semi-popular bands, got frustrated, threw my
dummy out of my pram like a little kid, did some stupid things, then walked
away. I don't think its any coincidence that I discovered playing World Of
Warcraft not long after it. It will probably come across as very, very
pathetic to talk about a computer game in such grand terms, but thats ok. It
was boss. I've never been into sports, so I've never really had that feeling
of being part of a team and overcoming a certain obstacle. So when I was at
the maximum level in Warcraft, we would do 25 man raids, and it was cool,
because everyone had a specific role and was pulling together to overcome an
encounter that was often pretty tough. It was a good euphoric feeling of
belonging and I met some great people while playing, including my
girlfriend. I've always been a fan of fantasy books and role-play games,
ever since I was a kid. I'd never been a big computer game guy though. I
bought Warcraft on a whim, after putting it off for a long time. Maybe its
because I had never really played computer games that I was so blown away by
the enormity of the the game and the world in which its set. But when I
first strolled through the Valley of Heroes into Stormwind City, and saw all
those Level 70 players decked out in their Teir 6 Gear, I was absolutely
sold. Although I did defect to the Horde soon after reading about Thrall.

As for Warhammer, I've been into that since I was a little kid. I repressed
it when I got into hardcore, as I was trying very hard to be cool. But you
meet people, and you get to know them, and at some point, many of them will
confess to having had a Space Wolves army or an Emperors Children army or
one of the Craftworld Eldar armies when they were young. And then you can
say "Well… I was obsessed with World Eaters back before the first Chaos
Codex even existed!" and you open up that discourse then. You do that for a
few years and you start to realise that all these people… they might talk
about how they want to collect X-Claim 1-6, but really, they're just massive
fuckin losers like you are, painting their little men and getting exited by
rolling 6's on Rending Weapons. I started getting back into painting and
playing Tabletop games about 6 years ago maybe? It was about 1 year before
that 4th edition Dark Angels codex came out anyway. It was after I had
stopped playing in Seconds Out and Boardman who played bass in Seconds Out
started getting interested again. We ended up amassing a massive collection
of scenery and armies. I think Boardie has about three full 2k point armies
himself, and a few of our mates also have armies. We'd play in our mates
flat every Friday night. Nothing I have ever done in Hardcore Punk has ever
been, or will ever be as fun as those Friday night gaming nights.

Recently though my mates have all slowed down their tabletop gaming so I
tend to just stick to painting miniatures now. I got a game in a few weeks
back and it was excellent. I beat my mates Ork army in an Annihilation game.
I'm trying to get into other gaming systems now, that game Hordes that
Privateer Press make looks cool, and some of the miniatures are really well
sculpted and I'd love to have a crack at painting some of them. I'd also
like to try getting back into Roleplaying. I did a fair bit of that as a
teenager, and would love to have a go of Runequest of D&D again.

You used to be into record collecting until you sold your stuff recently.
Any regrets? Do you miss the thrill of the chase? What were your most prized/valuable items?
I collected for a few years yeah. I was really exited by it at the time and
managed to get some really nice pieces. It was more about just being in the
right place at the right time though. Just prior to starting to collect
seriously I was going to America a bit and was getting some of the
contemporary presses from the bigger feasts and once I got a few, the bug
kind of bit me and I thought "Fuck it, I'm going to carry on with this".
I'm a perpetual hobbyist. I always have to have something to occupy myself.

And being obsessed with lists and things, record collecting worked for me at
the time. There was never the competitive angle for me, and I'm tempted to
suggest that its almost nothing to do with the music, even though I only
ever collected bands I was a fan of. It was more just about completing a
collection from a certain band. I did a lot of trading back then too and got
to know some real good people from it. Marcus Andrews being one of them. I
only ever collected for a few years though, and wouldn't ever have
considered myself a 'serious' collector like Marcus or yourself. Part of it
was having these physical reminders of my travels and experiences, part of
it was my love of making lists and ticking boxes. It was always more about
the lists than the physical product for me I think. Once I had something, it
was put in its place on the shelf and never touched and I would move on to
the next piece I was after. So once I stopped travelling to gigs, and my
interest in the bands of the time started to wane, my desire to collect
records started to fade away. I did have some old bits like the copy of
Brotherhood that you got, and I had a lot of old Rev stuff that Adam Malik
down in London grabbed, but they were anomalies on my list, as I only really
tended to collect bands from the era of Hardcore I was actively involved in.
To this end, my most prized records were always my Count Me Out ones, most
of which I think went to Marcus.

Regarding selling them all, I have no regrets. I was looking for a new place
with my girl and I wanted to clear some debt before I could do it. The
records were just a burden at that point. A bunch of heavy bits of plastic I
didn't want to drag all over Liverpool when I moved, so the decision was
pretty clear. I could clear a lot of debt by selling them, and would have
less to carry. Thats why I did it. I don't regret it either. I was fairly
scrupulous about who I sold to and wanted to make sure they went to a good
home. I didn't know you before you got in touch with me about them, and I
asked a few people about you to make sure all that stuff you bought would be
going to a decent home. Then there was Adam Malik who bought a lot, I know
him and he said some of them were for friends who really wanted them so
thats cool, then this other lad from London called Raf bought every single
record I owned. That hadn't been sold or reserved already. Usually that’s the
kind of transaction I would avoid, but he was very clear with his intentions
from the get go. He wanted to keep the bits that he was after, and the rest
he was going to sell on to find his record label. I thought that was
awesome, so was happy to deal with him. Then there were a few new lads from
Liverpool that we're pretty new to collecting, so I tried to give them a
good deal on some bits. All in all it worked out well. Everyone got some
good records at what I hope was a fair price, and I got to pay off some
debts and put a bit towards moving.

How’s Liverpool these days hardcore punk wise? There always seems to be
something happening with some of the old faces still about.
Yeah, I don't know how that compares to other cities but there are plenty of
old faces knocking about in Liverpool that were around when Planet X and the
likes were still standing. A few of them are involved in this collective
called Behind The Wall Of Sleep and are putting some good stuff on here. I
always liked the Thrashgig's that Foxy did. Those early Down And Outs gigs
with Walk The Plank etc were so chaotic. I had some good nights at those.
Theres younger lads as well. I don't know any of them, but I see them about.
Theres this one lad called Tom, he plays in the Zipcodes and he's fuckin
unreal. His enthusiasm and sincerity is almost infectious. He has done this
one man straight edge band called Violent Reaction, and I say this without
hyperbole,  its the best hardcore I've heard in years. Its so violent and
aggressive. Its like 86 Mentality but a little faster. He's in about 20
bands though. I hope he does something with Violent Reaction though, as I
would love to see those songs played live.
>
What do you think are the best and worst things about hardcore punk in 2011?

I think the best things in 2011 are probably what are the best things about
2001, and 1991 and 1981 were. I appreciate that I come across as jaded, but
I'm not at all, hardcore hasn't changed, I have. People are still getting
out there and putting on gigs and doing what they do. People are still
collecting and people are still writing zines and contributing in whatever
way they see fit. I'm of a personality type that is always looking for
something new. I love to learn new things and discover things. So while
(what I consider to be) 'my era' of hardcore has moved on, that doesn't mean
to say that its any better or worse… it just 'is'. I talked to these newer
lads from Liverpool when I was selling my records, and they seem really
exited about all that stuff down south, CTW and all that. I like a bit of
that myself. That band Wayfarer are fuckin brilliant. People always say
things like "hardcore has really changed since I got involved" then go on to
list a bunch of things that we're there in their era, but they either
weren't privy to or ignored. Thats not the way it is man. Nothing's changed.
Its evolved sure, but what hasn't? People just say shit like that to justify
their lack of interest or enthusiasm. As though its everyone else's fault
they can't be bothered travelling down the road to watch a band, not their
own. Its an attitude I've never understood. People being so scared to admit
that they've moved on that they have to invent a bunch of excuses that
justify it and make it ok. I stopped going to hardcore and punk gigs because
I was balls deep in World Of Warcraft and having a fucking blast. Then I
carried on not going because painting miniatures is far more interesting to
me. Now I don't really go cos I just don't want to. And thats ok. Its still
all good in the hood when it comes to hardcore. People are just as
enthusiastic and sincere as they were a few years back, its just not what
blows my dick off anymore y'know?

What’s next on the cards for Chris and the zip codes & Down and outs?

Down And Outs album is kind of the priority. September looks busy for us. We
have a lot of gigs (well, I think we have two, but we rarely play, so thats
a lot for us.) And I'm hoping we can make a bit more progress on recording.
I want the Zipcodes to record some stuff as well. We have no fixed plan for
The Zipcodes, so I would like to at least have the songs just in case at any
point we decide that its gone far enough. I guess we'll just keep on, I
dunno. I always wanted Down And Outs to go to Europe and maybe America, I
can't really see that happening now, but that’s cool. If we did it 5 years
ago then it would have been the right time, now I don't think any of us can
be arsed. So we'll just keep practicing and doing what we do.

Okay my man, here’s your cue to say owt you like, thanks for the interview
dude.
All I have to say is listen to Violent Reaction. They're fucking mind
blowing. Ta for the interview mate. I'm not really sure what I've done to
warrant being interviewed, but I enjoyed responding!
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