Liner Notes: Death Before Dishonor, 'Better Ways to Die'

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IN HARDCORE YEARS, Death Before Dishonor is about 56 years old. The Boston punk-metal band started before every kid had an MP3 blog, before MySpace became a dominant force and before the Internet took down the local record store — which was one of the few places fans could find out about underground hardcore concerts.

"We've been a band for eight years and I've been going to shows for 15 years," said vocalist Bryan Harris. "I think [hardcore music] has gotten a little more popular in the mainstream end. But as far as audience sizes, with the Internet, it's a lot easier to get more kids, or different types of kids, out to shows — just makes it a little more available to people in general, because in the early days of hardcore and punk rock it was based on flyers."

The Internet has also helped break down the walls and remove some of the stigmas associated with hardcore — that's it's only about violence, that meatheads rule, that you'll be forced into a discussion about straightedge vegan lifestyles with a Hare Krishna, etc.

"Hardcore has had its ups and downs and it's had its negative stuff — especially the type of music and the type of shows had a violent stigma," Harris said. "To say it's not a violent-type atmosphere would be a lie, but it should be violent in a positive way — not where people are getting beat up; violent in that the live energy is spontaneous where you can't tell what's going to happen."

You can always tell what's going to happen at a Death Before Dishonor show: youths will mosh, gang choruses will be sung and cathartic release will occur. The band's albums are equally predictable, too, in that it's a sure thing that purgative energy will be released, and Death Before Dishonor's latest explosion of ire is "Better Ways to Die" (Bridge 9).

Speaking like a true veteran of angst, Harris gave Express a track-by-track tour of "Better Ways to Die," explaining the bile behind each pulverizing song.

"Peace and Quiet"
That's about being sick of some close people. Friends you're close with or that you live with, and people change and you need a break from things. It's kind of a throwback song to older hardcore; it has an old Agnostic Front-type feel. It's fast and in your face and not long. I think it's a good way to start off the record.

"Remember"
Musically, it's more like a punk-rock song. It started as my guitar player's -- he had a side project that was a punk-rock band, and we started incorporating more punk rock into Death Before Dishonor; it's just something we're into. Lyrically, it's looking back at being younger dudes hanging out with our friends and just the meaning of the way we look at hardcore and punk rock.

"Coffin Nail"
It's a heavier, straight-up hardcore song, which is something that Death Before Dishonor has always done. Lyrically, my guitar player wrote those lyrics. He had someone that was dating his sister's friend or something -- some scumbag. I don't know too much about him. But I sing it. With Death Before Dishonor, we all chip in when we write. We do think very similar; it's kind of a cool process.

"Fuck This Year"
It's been a tough year -- we've had a lot of friends and family die this year. A lot of my friends and even band members, we've been going to a lot of funerals. My guitarist's grandfather, my friend's father; we had a friend pass away in a plane crash.

"Boys in Blue"
It's huge in punk rock to say all cops are bastards -- we weren't trying to really dwell on that; there's good cops and bad cops. But when somebody gets falsely arrested, it's just a crappy thing. It was very minor charge [on my brother] -- it was over some driving and some car that wasn't registered, and instead of just working it out with paperwork there they just wanted to make a point. It wasn't a big murder-type thing. We've also had friends who have been pulled over and harassed -- we've just seen a surge lately in police combating with people with tattoos and just stereotyping, at least locally.

"Better Ways to Die"
It's an ode to the people fighting the war. We see a lot of soldiers who come out to our shows -- they're stationed in Germany or Japan or even the U.S. ... We're not the biggest political band at all, but it's sad when people are constantly fighting and there's no end in sight for the war. We're not ones to dwell on the ins and outs of the war, but you see people you went to school with or kids that were going to your shows -- we play cities that have huge Marine bases that used to have a lot of kids there; now they're off fighting the war. When's it going to end?

"So Far From Home"
That's just about touring -- we tour a lot. We try to talk about what it's like, and I'm sure other bands can relate. And kids can hear what we think about when we tour over 200 days a year and you're only home a couple of weeks at a time. It's something I would never change for anything. ... We get to go to so many cool places and meet so many different people, and at the end of the day, as young kids starting a band -- some people want to get rich; we just wanted to be able to tour and have kids like us. So, it's like living a dream in a way. ... People are like, "When are you going to be done? You're 30 years old." To me, I just feel like I'm just getting started; I don't get sick of it in any way. As long as we're able to go to places, we'll keep on doing it.

"Black Cloud"
That's another song that my guitarist wrote. His grandfather passed away, and it kind of goes with "Fuck This Year." It's dwelling on the fact that bad luck just won't leave us.

"No More Lies"
That's an older song that had on a split [single] that we only released a thousand copies of, so we wanted to redo it. It's a song we always liked musically, and lyrically it's about an old friend of ours who was really close but who just wasn't who he was -- kind of one of those standard hardcore topics. But overall, we really liked the song and we didn't think it really got the exposure.

"Bloodlust"
That is a third-party written in the state of mind of a serial killer. It's nothing we've ever done before. ... Musically, it's really fast and thrashy; pretty psyched on it. It's not just serial killers; people are just murdering and killing -- every day it's something. I'm sure it's been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years, but I don't know if the media's focused on it more. ... But it just feels like the world's flipped; it feels like everybody's gone crazy.

"Our Glory Days"
We have guest vocals on that by Mark from Unseen, which is a bigger, more stable punk-rock band in Boston. Lyrically, it's just a throwback song talking about when we started going to shows leading up to now. ... A lot of bands talk about the early days and the good days, but the glory days are still here.

» Sonar, 407 E. Saratoga St., Baltimore; "10 for $10 Tour" with Madball, Poison the Well, Terror, Vision, Trapped Under Ice, Crime in Stereo, The Ghost Inside, War of Ages, This Is Hell, Sat., July 11, 3 p.m., $10; 410-783-7888.

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Photos courtesy Bridge 9