One of hardcore music’s better qualities is voids in the genre rarely last long. Bands rise and fall like roller coaster carts – at the precise moment a popular act calls it quits, another one is waiting in the wings to take charge. I haven’t made an exact timeline on this, but it seemed that just as MODERN LIFE IS WAR was burning out despite being one of hardcore’s brightest starts, DEFEATER was on the cusp of breaking big, even when they went by the early and not so great name SLUTS.  From the moment the band’s debut full-length, Travels, filtered into the ears of listeners, the group found a path to ascension, bolstered by Bridge Nine re-releasing the effort after its initial run on Top Shelf. If you were happy to peg DEFEATER as just another AMERICAN NIGHTMARE/HOPE CONSPIRACY themed band after their debut, Lost Ground shook those confidences like new carton of Tropicana. Ironically, after Lost Ground, MODERN LIFE IS WAR might now be the biggest comparison for DEFEATER, but that’s really just a matter of shorthand in referencing the depth, polish, and emotionally tugging that goes into a DEFEATER song, plus that whole mostly mid-tempo thing. With their rise still a matter of current events, let’s hope that there’s more music from DEFEATER in store before the next go-round of void filling. This interview was conducted via email by James Hepplewhite with guitarist Jay Maas. - Jordan

Pastepunk: Was Lost Ground storyboarded the same way Travels was?

Jay Maas: The way we go about writing the general concepts and themes is pretty constant for all the records we do. So Lost Ground followed suit.

Pastepunk: Why the subject matter? Not that I mind, but a six song EP based around the life of a black World War 2 vet out of five guys from Massachusetts is surprising, given the genre…

Jay: I guess there are a few points in that question I’d like address. We could not care less about genres or “hardcore” convention. We may be on the surface writing about a man who happens to be black making choices and going to war but I think its a far cry from what we’re really trying to get across. I’m much more interested in the “whys” of actions over the “whats”. Think about why a man could put his life on the line next to another man but when they come home they are unequal based only upon color of skin. Why do those with the upper hand fear equality so much? Why are we content to let the less fortunate continue to suffer? I’m not talking about giving someone money, money or anything for that matter doesn’t do one positive thing without proper education. It’s the old “teach a man to fish” adage.

Are there things or ideas that having a band with a continuity precludes you from talking about?

I guess Sir Lancelot and the advent of digital cable, but I don’t think it precludes us from talking about the things that truly matter. We may use a story as a vehicle to express ourselves, however this in no way prohibits us from embedding our own ideas and values. In fact writing in “fiction” enables us to more directly convey the questions we ask of the listener. Human interaction has been the same power struggle of washing each other’s hands and justifications since there has been something to gain from doing so. More than anything else I care about making people think, making people ask questions. The problem is as beings we only know what we have been shown. In many cases we haven’t even been shown that we SHOULD question everything. How quickly we’ll trade passion for convention. I speak for myself and for the people I hold to be my closest friends when I say life is not a line, it is not a ladder, and any person that trys to impose that idea upon you is afraid to step outside the box of normal social boundaries. Misery loves company.

Pastepunk: Also: Your songs have continuity. How awesome is that?

Jay: It’s the awesomest.

Pastepunk: Where do you go next? Is it going to be a character seen in Travels or Lost Ground or someone yet to introduced to the Defeater universe?

Jay: Not to sound like an ABC LOST television executive, but would that not spoil all the fun? Instead I will give you a fake answer:

*Ahem*

Something is awry on the hot streets of Miami these days. All the cats have grown pontoons and have been shuttle boating the Caucasian homosexual community to the bermuda triangle.. Where they play guitar on street corners and then are NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN.

Want more? Don’t turn that dial.

Pastepunk: Do the narrators in your songs have good days? Travels ended with the narrator throwing himself off a church after confessing to the priest and Lost Ground ends with the guy begging in the streets.

Jay: Honestly that’s a good question. I feel like we are due for like a Peter, Paul, and Mary record or something. Maybe the next one can be about how the long lost uncle won the lottery and then gave all his money to charity only to be named Duke of all things smiley as a reward for his abundant generosity.

I guess its in our nature to be a little pessimistic and cynical when we write. It’s aggressive music and to be totally frank I don’t really have the most uplifting view on humanity. I think it’s wisest to always look for people’s motivations before all else. This is not to say we can’t have meaningful amazing relationships in this life. I have plenty in mine and couldn’t be more grateful, however those people have been the vast minority. I think all things have a beginning, an end, and then a new beginning. I mean our solar system is on a high speed course to smash into Andromeda, from that chaos will arise all new beginnings. I don’t find human nature to be all too different.

Pastepunk: It sounds like there’s a bunch of great new East Coast bands coming up like HOSTAGE CALM and MAKE DO AND MEND. Who else is getting overlooked?

Jay: Transit, Watchfire, Daybreaker, Dreamtigers, The Stereo State, After the Fall, Balance and Composure.