Vitriolic Therapy

Three albums in, and Antagonist AD are more passionate than ever. Using their frenetic and powerful performances as a soapbox to vent about societal ills, the band have always espoused that to be hardcore, it had to mean something. The new album Nothing For No One proves to be the most aggressive musical endeavour they have put to tape, yet with its focus coming from a slightly different direction.

“It took the majority of 2011 to write and record,” vocalist Sam Crocker admits. “We didn't want to set a precedent by placing a time limit on what we were doing. Some of the songs had working titles for months, and we would change a riff here, a line there. In many ways it let us be more direct and thought-out with the writing, by adding more layers and depth to the music. It's more refined, it isn't rough around the edges like we jammed certain songs together.”

Lyrically Crocker has avoided previous fascinations with social and political topics to venture within, with surprising results. “When we started the band I had all these topics that I wanted to sing about, yet it got to the point that we had played these songs so often and I had said what I wanted to say about these issues, said them the way I wanted to. Hardcore for us is about being real, so I had always been reluctant to write anything personal, to attach myself to the lyrics rather than it being a stance or viewpoint. I focused on more personal issues, feelings of paranoia and anxiety, the idea of being isolated in your own head, and it was so therapeutic. There is so much more connection and energy from me now, being able to relive these experiences and use its weight to push through.”

The title Nothing From No One is particularly pertinent to the band, with the album standing as a sign of intent of what is in store. “There was no rush to find a title for the album, I wanted it to jump out and choose itself,” Crocker explains. “We had gotten through half the album and that line stuck out and changed the tone of the album. Geographically, we are a small band from a small country jammed into a hardcore world that is large and significant, and we are starting to make ripples in the pond, so the album sounds like we have a point to prove. We are coming out swinging.”

The boys also recently signed up to Mediaskare Records, a deal that has Crocker grinning. “It's been an awesome move,” he gushes. “We found it hard to believe that they showed interest in putting us out, because as far as we were concerned we were just some band on the other side of the world. To be recognised by a respected American label, who have put out a tonne of music by bands we've been listening to for ages – it gives a real sense of validation to what we do. We played our first show at a venue called Youthzone in Hamilton, one of the first places where I went to shows when growing up as a grommet, so playing the final show there before it shut down was the pinnacle – we didn't really look further than that, that was an amazing thing to achieve. We used to see punk bands like NOFX and wish that we could be doing those things, so [the fact] that we are getting to now is a really humbling thing.”