1034
Contenders Boardshop
Orange, Calif.
December 28, 2018
Tear Down: A Q&A With 1034
Nick, drums; Ian, guitar; Dominic, vocals; Roman, bass
What was your biggest highlight in 2018?
Ian: We played with DRI and Smut Peddlers, so those were fun.
Nick: Those were a fucking blast.
Roman: Yeah, good 2017. Wait, what year is it? Yeah, 2018. 2017 and 2018 were both good years.
Lowest point of the year?
I: No low points because we’re all homies.
Any goals or milestones you’d like to hit in 2019?
I: Right off the bat, we’re coming out with a full-length album. Right at the start of the year in January.
N: It’s going to be our set for the year.
Are you putting that out on your own or with a label?
I: Just on our own.
Doing it on your own – was that something you set out to intentionally do?
N: Yeah. I think there’s a lot of things like royalties that come with bigger labels that don’t fully enhance what the artist wants. And there’s also filters put on our mouths. So to put it out on our own, we’re almost better off.
I: DIY or die.
If a label ever came knocking, would you consider it?
N: Yeah, I mean it depends on what the label is.
I: If they were cool.
N: It’s all about what they’re about and if we get along with the other bands on that label. Wouldn’t do Fat Wreck Chords, but I’d do something like a Mystic or Dischord or something like that. More low key probably.
Why do you mention Fat specifically?
N: I just don’t — I think their shit’s like cookie cut and fucking pop punk bullshit and I’m not about it.
Dominic: Yeah, it’s kind of like a factory record label. They keep making the same product and it’s the same bullshit.
N: Can’t do what everybody else has already done.
D: Exactly. I’d rather have a label of different sounding bands than all bands that sound the same
You’ve got a good amount of momentum behind you and play a considerable amount of shows. What keeps you motivated because it’s obviously a lot of work?
N: Our love for it.
D: It’s not work. What motivates us, I think, is just daily frustration that never leaves your life so that just is what keeps us going and this is just a way to get it out.
N: People call us a political punk band. We’re not really a political punk band. We’re more like just sacrilegious and things that we don’t like or things that are more in topic on social issues or stuff like that. I don’t think we’re too political. But I also don’t think we’re too apolitical, which is what I like. Depends on what political it is. Against, not for.
What’s something people don’t know about you guys or wouldn’t necessarily assume?
I: When we started, we were all so bad at our instruments. None of us knew how to play in a band at all. Some of these bands are starting and they’ve already been playing for years. I just knew how to play a few chords and Roman was a guitar player and never really played bass. Dominic was whispering into a mic and Nick didn’t know what he was doing either.
N: Yeah, I kind of played myself off better than I was just to get myself in the band.
I: We just didn’t know what we were doing, messed around enough and started getting OK. Then we moved forward from there. The first show we played, we were trash
N: Yeah, it was really funny.
Where was that?
I: Some backyard in Redondo.
What’s the shittiest or most off-color thing someone’s said about the band?
I: We’ve heard people say we’re racist. That’s just a common thing that’s thrown around to all new bands starting out. People say ‘Oh, you’re racists.’ I don’t know. I guess having like a person in the band who’s not white was not enough. They thought we were like a skinhead band one time.
D: A lot of judging a book by its cover. A lot of people think we’re assholes. Not a lot of people, but people. There’s people who think we’re assholes. But if they just talk to us, they’d see we’re pretty nice.
N: I like it though. I like being a troll.
What do you mean?
N: It makes our crowd more defined.
I: Nick just gets a reaction out of people.
N: I would rather have a crowd that’s committed and knows what we’re about than be overly PC. I would rather just say what I think and not have to change my definition of things to comfort five people.
The assumptions about racism. What do you think is driving that – where you hail from or something else?
I: South Bay has little bit of a racist reputation. Same with a lot of Huntington Beach and stuff like that. It’s kind of common for that reputation. It definitely doesn’t help, but being from South Bay also brings a lot of other false reputations that other people would have like stereotypes. People think we’re going to sound like Descendents or something because they come out of the South Bay too. They automatically think we’re going to sound like a South Bay band.
Outside of music, what are you interests?
N: Skateboarding and surfing.
D: Skating
N: We all kind of met through skateboarding.
And do any of you play in any other bands?
I: No, just this.
N: I was, but that band sucks.
Dr. L?
N: Yep.
And that’s disbanded?
N: Yep, it’s disbanded. Some people are just dicks.
Would you like to expand on that?
I: No, don’t even go there. Nick’s already said enough stupid shit in this interview that we’re regretting.
Final thoughts?
I: Give us a listen and come to a show. And if you like it, you like it.
N: That’s all there is.