From Paradigm Spring 2021, Issue 6.1
TIME TESTED
Eighteen years after its inception, Countime’s only getting started as its members ready for the release of an album with a raft of new material coming out of the group at a deafening pace. It’s L.A. hoodcore at its finest.
BY KARI HAMANAKA
The 1920s masonry building in the Arts District is gritty and grimy down in the basement. It’s just the right backdrop for music videos, photoshoots and a lowkey studio space.
And, for the past few weeks it’s been the practice space for Racial Profile, the band born out of the members of Los Angeles hardcore band Countime, which has been working at a breakneck pace when it comes to the creative output over the past year.
The shelter-in-place orders of 2020 hit everyone a little differently.
For Countime, you could call it a renaissance of sorts in terms of creativity. At 18, Countime is hitting a new stride, replete with a 17-song LP, named “No Apologies, No Regrets,” due out in May. That’s coming on the heels of “The Pandemic” EP released last year. There’s more music videos, more songs and more with their burgeoning Hoodcore clothing brand and label.
With Countime, more is definitely more.
When friends of the band in Union 13 asked them last year to be on a compilation, Countime created the one song and then some.
“Like anything in the Countime camp, you come up with one song, these dickheads come with five,” singer Jr. said.
The additions ended up being rolled into “The Pandemic” EP and the output continues.
“We’re writing [more songs] still to this day and we’re planning to write another full length by the end of this year,” said bassist Rude. “We’re not going to release it this year, but we’ll write it. It’s in our heads; it’s already there. We’re not going to stop. We want to do two [albums] a year. There’s no stopping us. The hurricane has come.”
That hurricane would be Countime’s brand of what they call L.A. hoodcore, a concept with tentacles that extends to the raucous and real style of music they’ve put out for nearly two decades, merchandise in the way of a streetwear-style brand and record-skate label Hoodcore Records.
The label currently releases material by Countime and Racial Profile. Hoodcore, the brand, took off from day one with sales in Italy and Japan. Danny Diablo from Crown of Thornz and the members of Madball all wear merch from the line.
“L.A. hardcore, L.A. hoodcore. It’s just the style we play,” Jr. said.
“We want to do two [albums] a year. There’s no stopping us. The hurricane has come.”
The upcoming “No Apologies, No Regrets” album is rife with that style, but a couple tracks also see the band mixing some aspects up a little.
“I personally went a little bit different route in my guitar playing instead of just doing the usual Countime routine. We all jumped in and spiced it up without even knowing,” guitarist Mikey said. “We all went with it because sometimes it’s time to change it up a bit. I’m not going to say stay with the times, but change is not always bad and I think this change was definitely a good one for us.”
Jr. mentioned old AFI as one of the reference points. The idea was to produce a few songs laden with what he called “a chant still for the streets.”
“It’s only two songs, just instrumental, but it shows you we can rock on stage and we can make heavy music, but we can also play our instruments,” Jr. said. “We definitely spread our wings.”
The album was also done nearly all virtually, Mikey said, with riffs sent through text or Instagram videos.
“That’s something new,” he said.
Thematically, the song lyrics are still as honest and real as the day Countime started back in 2003.
That is, they’ve sung about everything from what Jr. called baby mama drama and drug addiction to teenage pregnancy and balancing being a young father and supporting a family while being in a band.
Every time someone cracks open a Countime album, it’s their collective histories spilling out in a no-nonsense way. Everything is written from personal experiences and there’s no reading between the lines with the messaging. No made-up stories and no metaphors, Junior said adding, “If it didn’t happen, then we cannot write about it.”
“It’s all 100 percent experiences that we went through,” Rude added. “We watched someone put it down or are currently going through it. We all feed off each other. We’re all brothers here.”
The philosophy has been to be forthcoming with their stories, unafraid of what anyone might think or assume. And it’s that rawness that has helped others connect with their music.
“It’s tough enough being yourself. If you can’t sing about your problems – that’s something you should write about because there’s lots of people out there that are just as fucked up in the head like you,” Jr. said. “Just because you’re not a gang member or you didn’t come from the hood, it doesn’t mean you don’t have fucking problems. A lot of people just don’t want to sing about them or talk about them because then everybody’s going to look at them like, ‘Oh, you’re a freak,’ but then you’re going to go to a fucking shrink? Sing about your problems! Tell the kids! The kids, they’re just as fucked up as you. It doesn’t matter if you’re white, brown, everybody’s fucked up in their own way. It’s just the way you handle it. Some of us go off the edge and we’ve been there. You get back up and you keep fucking climbing. If you don’t fall, how the fuck you going to learn to walk, you know what I mean?”
Jr. during a Racial Profile practice, ahead of the band’s first-ever live show in April 2021.
Life has kept Countime chugging along, providing a steady flow of new material to write about and new riffs and beats to lay those words down on.
Although Countime took a hiatus in 2010, the pause proved playing music and hanging out with each other had to remain a constant in their lives. Even when they’re not playing, they’re barbecuing or writing music together.
“We’re living, we’ve got stuff to talk about,” Rude said. “We’ve got music to make, stuff to create. That’s enough inspiration for us.”
The core of the band is their love for skateboarding, music and playing. That formed the impetus for Countime and remains the motivation for continuing, despite the constant ebb and flow that’s occurred within the scene over the years.
“Bands come and go. Friendships last for so long. You’ve got bands that are into youth crew at one time and they’re straight edge and then if you start a tough guy band, that’s what people label us as. We don’t consider ourselves that. We are who we are. We’ll talk to you. We’ll have a beer with you. We’ll fuck around with you. Ask anybody in the scene. People grow out of it, but I don’t know how you grow out of a culture,” Jr. said.
The collective, from the music to the palpable visuals and feelings their songs bring to life, have painted a distinct picture of their world that’s no doubt helped shape the scene locally. And, yet, there’s a thought thrown out in the midst of this conversation that the typecasting is inevitable by some and that perhaps Countime isn’t always given its proper due.
“At one time, it was cool not to like Countime,” Jr. pointed out.
When asked at what point that perception shifted, he shook his head questioning if it’s really changed all that much. Instead, he offered, it’s just fewer people voicing their critiques directly to their faces. That feeling of always having to prove themselves is what the band Racial Profile was born out of.
“We’re all minorities,” Jr. “We’re always going to feel that. That’s how anything is. There’s always going to be ignorance. It’s like, sometimes you’ve got to fight with your mouth. Sometimes you’ve got to fight with your fist. We’ve got no problem with either one.”
Being overlooked at times can offer plenty of incentive to keep pushing and to consistently strive for more, they would argue.
“Sometimes we’ll go to a show and we’ll be ‘That band opened up for them? I know we could have done better’ and it just motivates us to go back in the studio and write something better and come out and swing,” Jr. said. “That’s the way it should be with anything. I mean, that’s why we found this music.”
That dedication is what’s led them down a path that, by all accounts, has opened the doors for Countime to largely defy any critics. They’ve toured throughout the U.S. and outside the country – a brass ring many bands only dream about. The expansion of their universe through touring gives them an interesting lens through which they view the local and global scene, along with life in general, so that while they retain and don’t stray from their hoodcore roots and sound, they’ve racked up plenty of life experiences.
Touring Europe in January 2020 for the Persistence tour with Gorilla Biscuits, Agnostic Front, Street Dogs, H20, BillyBio, Wisdom in Chains and Cutthroat was an eye opener. So is playing in Mexico when they go down there to play, Jr. said.
“When you play in Mexico, these are poor kids who work like two weeks straight just to pay $10 to see us,” said Junior, “So when we go there with merch, we don’t even sell it. We just give it to them. And we’ll go to Europe. Europe was different. I never expected someone to come up and grab me and try to kiss us [in greeting], you know what I mean? We’re signing autographs. Back home, we couldn’t even get a gig. We were a joke to people. When you come out and you sing about the hood, people profile you or just assume, ‘Oh, he’s Mexican. He’s a gangbanger. He’s a troublemaker.’ But then years go by, they respect what you did because you’ve been in the game for so long, but that’s like anything.”
The band is currently booked to play in Santiago, Chile in October. Mexico is also an option to play. They were scheduled to play Europe again this year, but that’s currently on hold due to COVID. And, of course, there’s the local scene.
“People are coming out and the shows are getting even more packed. Ridiculous packed,” Rude said. “So, right now is the time to hit it, execute on it and let’s just do this.”
By all accounts, Countime is well poised for this.
Back in the industrial labyrinth where their practice space is, Rude and Jr. offered a sneak preview of a song off the “No Apologies” album. It’s titled “Requiem.” The track rounds out the upcoming album.
“It’s a little bit more mellow, but it’s a chant song,” Rude explained, “to keep the whole vibe and [say] you can do anything. There’s no set of rules. It’s like chaos. You’ve got a set of rules, but you’ve always got to break them, or else you’re not going to be an innovator.”
▶ Keep In Touch:
OUT NOW: "No Apologies No Regrets" album!
Album on SoundCloud, Click Here
Album on Spotify, Click Here
Album at Demons Run Amok Entertainment, Click Here
Instagram: @countime_lahc
YouTube Channel, Click Here
Bandcamp, Click Here
Spotify, Click Here
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