Music

INTERVIEW: Coke Drip are a "dumb hardcore" band from Newfoundland

by Josiah Hughes

Juls Generic is no stranger to the punk scene, from her multiple appearances as a Maximum Rockandroll columnist to her decade-plus years spent in myriad punk and hardcore bands. She’s perhaps best known as the former frontwoman for Margaret Thrasher, the Vancouver-based DIY punk act that toured the world, releasing two killer 7-inches and their 2008 LP, Moderate Rock (P. Trash), in the process, before disbanding.

Now, Juls lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where she’s refused to slow down, instead channelling her energy into countless projects, the latest of which is Coke Drip, a mercilessly aggressive hardcore punk group who are as comfortable with blast beats as they are two-step ready mid-tempo sections.

Aside from their geographic location, Coke Drip’s approach to making music makes them an ideal candidate for the Getting to Know column: refreshingly unambitious, they’re all about capturing a moment in the present and doing the best to keep Newfoundland’s tight-knit punk scene alive.

On the heels of their self-titled demo, a surprisingly full-sounding self-recording that crams four songs into less than four minutes, we spoke with Generic to find out what makes Coke Drip tick.

AUX: When did you move to Newfoundland and why?

Juls Generic: I moved here around the end of 2008. No real reason. I wanted to live somewhere punk, cheap, different from Vancouver, and where I could legally work, and I had some friends here.

Where exactly do you live? How would you describe it compared to where you lived before?

I live in St. John’s, the capital, which is the furthermost eastern point of North America. Like Vancouver, it rains all the time, the ocean is hella cold, and the parks are full of circus sports. Unlike Vancouver, the rent is cheap and the city is small. There’s a lack of cheap food but lots of city grit.

I know this isn’t your first band since you’ve lived out there. Tell me about them and why they didn’t pan out.

Rumours, Surrogate Activity, Tied Down, Asshole Adult, Mixed Messages. Either someone moved away from Newfoundland or someone needed to move on. Panning out is weird terminology. You play music, someone in the mix doesn’t want to hang out with you every week and play that particular genre anymore, whatever, you move on. Why grow stale?

How and when did Coke Drip form?

Coke Drip got together in December. I dunno, Robert [Forward, vocals] sent me a text message, he was in Asshole Adult with me, he was starting a new band with Chris and had some songs written. Chris lives at the punk house with the jam space. It was cool ‘cause I wasn’t playing in a hardcore band and I thought Robert hated me.

What’s the mandate for this band?

For me, it’s playing as many solos as I can in our five-minute set.

What are the negatives for playing punk music in Newfoundland?

It’s amazing. The only negative is not that many touring bands come through. But when they come, they play like three shows over a weekend and it’s a super fun punky weekend party. The other negative is that around this time of year there is snow storm after snow storm after snow storm and you have something booked and no one comes and it’s hard to get there and you almost slide down a hill and hit the side of the credit union. The winter is hard here because it’s long and the snow clearing sucks and you spend so much of your life shovelling just to get out of your house.

Aside from the negative sides, what’s the positive side of playing music out there?

Everything is positive. Lots of bands. Decent turn-out to shows. People care about punk and hardcore here a lot.

Do you find many locals encouraging you to do what you do?

Yeah dude. There’s like three bars here you can always book shows at and a few different houses that have shows too. When we play bar shows, lots of randoms tend to show up.

Is it easy to find a practice space? What about a place to play a show?

Shows, easy. I mean, there’s no real all-ages space but one of the bars has all-ages shows on the weekends. Practice space is a little harder. There’s one house that probably about ten bands practice at. It must suck to live there.

What’s the goal of this band?

No goals. We are gonna break up soon ’cause both Robert and I are following our respectable, educated partners to the places where they are pursuing their doctoral and post-doctoral studies. Put out a demo, play some shows, whatever. This is not anyone’s primary band, really.

How do you write songs?

Someone, traditionally Robert, the vocalist, brings a song to practice and then we change things to make it not suck or to accommodate our crappy instrumentation skills.

You’ve been involved with punk music forever. Why aren’t you sick of it yet?

Yo, I dunno. I’ve been playing in bands for 13 years now. Maybe because the bands have gotten better.