CROSSINGPOINT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROCHELLE PHIPSON
WEBSITE: www.crossingpoint.co.za
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Hardcore / Metal / Punk

CROSSINGPOINT HAS BEEN GOING FOR YEARS BUT COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THE BAND BEFORE, WHAT THE BAND AND THE MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT?

RICHARD: Were about the music, the message and the friends! That pretty much sums it up. We love what we do and put everything into doing it. This is what we live for!

RAY: We are a band that hopes, has and will inspire people to live with hope, strength and love. We believe in the hardcore scene and that mixed with our faith in Christ we play our hearts out and work our buts off to live this passion out!!!THE MESSAGE THE MUSIC THE FRIENDS!!!

BRANDON: We are all straightedge, some are vegetarian, we believe in God, and we love hardcore like nothing else. These 3 things are the cornerstone of the passion that drives us to do what we do.

YOU GUYS JUST RELEASED A NEW ALBUM TITLED “SELF ASSASSINATION”, WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT AND HOW HAS YOUR SOUND EVOLVED SINCE THE LAST ALBUM?

RICHARD: The sound has hugely evolved. When writing for this album we really tried to push ourselves in all areas we could with composing songs and different parts as well as pushing our skills to try and do things that weren't always ‘natural' or not necessarily what were ‘good' at.

RAY: It's heavier and better produced. We play our own style of HXC I think? I can't narrow it down to an exact sound. But its def got a dirty and raw feel to it! Basically we are not like most other bands in the "scene" at the moment, we are not metal, not metalcore, deathcore, or any other kind of core that has suddenly hit the stages. We are a HXC band that plays raw and heavy!! And that's what the album is. So buy it, come to a show and bring the freaking mosh!!!

BRANDON: It's a big progression from the first album obviously. It's heavier and darker, faster, and slower, so there is a lot of dynamics. Lyrically, it's spiritually inspired, but not on a typically ‘gospel' level. I think anybody into thought provoking music and ideas will appreciate some of the thinking we scream out.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR ALBUM TITLE “SELF ASSASSINATION” RELATE WITH THE MUSIC ON THE ALBUM, AND WHAT MADE THE ALBUM TITLE STAND OUT FROM ALL THE OTHER OPTIONS YOU HAD?

RAY: It's about sparking a revolution in our minds. To put to death the lies and negative ideas, thoughts and words spoken over us or taught to us. Basically you and I are more than what we think we are. We are strong, we are worthy, we are the hope this world needs, we are more than conquers and it is rooted in the love that Christ has for us. For us to fight back for what is right and good in these times. To rise up and be the people we are meant to be. To stop thinking some one else will do it, to stop just settling for the hate ,"abuse" and negative forces that try to control us. To fight back with love, grace and a righteous anger.

BRANDON: I don't remember having any other serious options on the album title. This one came out and we all said “YES this is it”.

HOW DO YOU GUYS APPROACH THE SONG WRITING PROCESS AND WHERE DO YOU USUALLY FIND INSPIRATION FROM?

RICHARD: ? We try to write music that moves you emotionally. When we write a heavy part, it's heavy as balls! When we write a doomy part it's scary and sludgy. We try push every aspect of every song as far as we can.

RAY: My inspiration comes from my life in Christ, from other bands, movies, books, ideas, etc but it all gets filtered thru my beliefs in my faith and the HXC scene.

BRANDON: SELF ASSASSINATION was basically written with me bringing guitar riffs to the rehearsal room, and working with the band in making them into songs. We would change them completely sometimes, throw some out, and make up new ones on the spot.

There is however ONE song on the album which has music that was written in a single jam session.. We were recording everything and came back to listen to it later, thought it was pretty hot and worked it out note for note and it became a song exactly as we played it. That was cool!

YOUR MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT DELIVERING A POSITIVE MESSAGE TO PEOPLE, DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE MORE BANDS DOING THE SAME THING AND GIVING PEOPLE HOPE IN A DAY AND AGE WHERE THE ONLY THING YOU READ ABOUT AND SEE ON TV ARE WARS, MURDER AND THAT SORT OF THING?

ROSS: Definitely! I truly believe that nothing is going to get better by itself; it's up to each of us to build towards a better future whetherit's a band or in your personal capacity.

RICHARD: Yes, definitely. We get force fed so much negativity day to day, everywhere you go, everything you see! The people with something positive to say are the ones that keep us going! And feed us hope! We just hope that we can be that to someone else who might be going through a hard time and in need of some posi input.

RAY: For sure... We as musicians have an awesome privilege to be a light to many. But HXC is all about speaking about what you believe in so I have grace towards those so called negative bands? I have no right to judge but at the same time like I said before we need to stand up and be the hope needed.

BRANDON: At the moment I sometimes feel like we have a refreshing and unique take on things compared to some bands, even internationally. It's not forced or anything, that's just the way we are. I've never been one to be negative about a situation or predicament. It's always better to pull yourself up and try finding the good in everything and making the best of it.

THE BAND HAS A REALLY PROFESSIONAL LOOK, IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO BE PROFESSIONAL AT ALL TIMES AND MAINTAINING A HIGH STANDARD AND WHY DO YOU THINK SO MANY BANDS STRUGGLE WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING A “CORPORATE IDENTITY” FOR THEMSELVES?

RICHARD: Thanks. We really do try to stay professional in everything we do as a band. If we had the opportunity we would drop everything right now and do this ‘professionally'. So many bands come and go and say that they are serious but when it comes down to it they just end up disintegrating. It's flipping hard to try tour and push ourselves as much as we do because of the lack of backing for a band like us in South Africa , so it's up to us to do everything we can to get us where we want to be.

ROSS: We take what we do seriously; it's as simple as that. We don't settle for anything if we think it is not up to scratch and I think bands often overlook the finer details, which can often be damaging to the way people view them.

RAY: Brandon our guitarist has been in the music scene for a long time, so as a band we are very blessed to have this "weight" behind us. His knowledge and passion has been a major influence to why the band is were it is and why it looks like it does.

With his knowledge and ours put together we have come to look like what you see today. Yes to have a professional "look" is good but in the end we are just people and we must remind ourselves this is fun as much as it is a hopeful "career".

BRANDON: For a long time I found people weren't taking us seriously. So we decided to work together in giving a crowd every reason to have faith in us. From our punctuality, loading in and loading out, setting up on stage, having good quality backline, etc. It just makes things work so much smoother and easier if you know what you want to do and just do it without compromise!

CROSSING POINT HAS A GREAT ENERGY AND SOUND ON THE BAND'S RECORDINGS; HOW DO YOU TAKE THAT ENERGY AND PROJECT IT TO A CROWD ON STAGE?

RICHARD: I think it's the opposite. We are all performers and are really passionate about what we do! Especially when were onstage and we know we can make an impact on someone's life. The difficult thing was trying to put that passion onto the album!

We had to make some big decisions when recording to try get the passion on the album.. For example the drums were tracked live without a click. Which might seem unorthodox but thanks to you mentioning the energy on the album, it must've worked!

RAY: Practice hard and loud!!! And ask God for lots of energy on stage, hahah true though. We love playing and going hard so most times its easy to go off but some times you get those difficult gig were you just have to push though.. As a band we are all very thought full of one another and work well together so the unity is very strong and that helps so much!! These dudes
are my brothers!!!

ROSS: For me Hardcore has and always will be better live so the challenge for me is actually the opposite…trying to make the recording as good as the live show.

BRANDON: Feedback on SELF ASSASSINATION so far has been that we have taken our live energy successfully to CD! That's a real compliment! In recording we experimented with different techniques but eventually went with one that felt the most real and energetic. I think having the album mixed and mastered by WestWestSide Music in New York really paid off. They knew what they were doing and instantly grasped what our vibe was.

WITH A NEW ALBUM OUT YOU GUYS MUST BE EXCITED ABOUT YOUR NEW SET LIST. IS IT SOMETIMES A BIT HARD TO CHOOSE WHAT SONGS TO PLAY AND WHAT SONGS TO LEAVE OUT?

RICHARD: Yes, were kind of learning as we go with playing, the new songs and listening to guys comments about the different songs. So when writing the set list we'll say like “flip, guys go mad to that song lets do it first to get everyone going” or “guys haven't been going off to that song lately, lets leave it off” sometimes we all just love playing certain songs so much it
doesn't matter!

RAY: Yes this is a mission sometimes, but for bigger shows were we have a bigger time slot we just do all the songs.

BRANDON: We have our own favourites but they kind of rotate around. The new ones are challenging because we are less comfortable playing them live. Sometimes it's cool to leave older songs out and play the new ones for awhile.. And then it's a treat to bring an old one back and rock the heck out of it! In general we choose a set based on the gig we will be playing and how long we have to induce mayhem!

IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU INCORPORATE CROWD INTERACTION AT LIVE PERFORMANCES?

RICHARD: Wall of death.

ROSS: I have always hated the ‘rock star' mentality. If someone wants to get up on stage and sing along or what ever they are morethan welcome to and we encourage that type of thing.

RAY: Well in HXC is a common thing to give the mike out to the crowd so they can sing to a certain part, so I do that in various parts. Usually you will get the crowd stampeding to the front to grab the mike at a certain part and then you know it's there turn to sing!!!

BRANDON: I don't really think about this kind of thing. If people want to sing along, grab a mike then go for it. But I don't think we have ever thought about a live set or part of a song like ooohhh, this is when Ray must give the mike to the crowd to sing, that would be so flipping lame.

Sometimes a crowd rocks out, sometimes they don't, we always try our best to use the opportunity of playing live to have a good time and best represent ourselves and our lifestyle. The Wall of Death which we started doing 3 or 4 years back always seems to get the kids excited, ha-ha. We don't always do it though; it depends on the type of show.

HEAVY MUSIC HAS REALLY BEEN GETTING ALLOT OF ATTENTION AT THE MOMENT, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CURRENT CROP OF BANDS COMING OUT OF THE SCENE AND THE STANDARD OF MUSIC?

RICHARD: It's awesome. But hardcore is not a phase and the kids that are in it for the fashion and the trend will soon fade away and move onto the next dying fad. Hopefully the kids that
we interact with realise that there's more to this scene then anything else, and end up
sticking around!

ROSS: Its great to see that people are becoming more open minded! When a style of music suddenly gets popular there will always be some good and some bad but i'm glad to say that the standard is high.

RAY: There is a lot of rad bands coming out these days, very talented musicians especially what I'm seen in the metal style genera. But we need more HXC bands ..So freaking start one!

BRANDON: Personally I don't know any local bands that inspire me at the moment. There are a lot of copycat ‘school of rock'/'Zen of screaming' bands around though. Good musicians, actually INSANE musicians, but internally uninspiring. The music isn't grabbing me personally as coming from the soul, it sounds like ‘music by numbers' or very formulaic.

DO YOU THINK THAT HARDCORE AS A GENRE WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND AND INFLUENCE MUSICIANS IN SOME SHAPE OR FORM?

BRANDON: A tough question which is why I left it out in the original interview ha-ha. Hardcore will always be around for me, but it's not always in the open for every musician or person to be influenced by. These days hardcore is the big ‘scene' thing in SA. Even bigger than ‘indie'. To put it another way, it's the biggest sub culture in the country at the moment. Of course as with all things, it will ebb and flow though.

ANY OTHER THINGS THAT THE BAND IS LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2009?

BRANDON: I'm trying to get CXP back to tour America in July.. Hopefully on the Warped Tour thanks to our friend Fray who helped CrashCarBurn do the same thing in 2008. Otherwise, a friend in the USA wants to help us do a 4 band, 2 van of the country.

That would be insane as well! Other than that we are hoping to shoot a new music video or two. And most exciting of all, we will be releasing anEP of 5 new songs by the middle of the year. So far the new stuff sounds quite different, but there are hints of it in certain parts of some songs on Self Assassination – so this EP is going to be a small experiment for us.

ANY LAST COMMENTS OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

ROSS: Just like to say thanks to all the people that have ever come to our shows over the year, you guys make it worth it! Also please come and say what's up to us at the shows, we love meeting new people and making friends.

RAY: Thanks: blood witness, Kevin's custom tattoos, and music connection and to all the Crossingpoint friends and fansout there shot!!!

BRANDON: Just want to thank the people that believe in this music and don't sell out. The people that keep it real, that take the time and effort to get fully immersed in the hardcore scene and all it has to offer. It's a worldwide family that will be with you every step of the way.