Richard Hoak is the drummer/vocalist for Total Fucking Destruction (TFD), which is presently one of the biggest underground grind bands. He began as a drummer for Brutal Truth in the mid 1990’s, a band with countless influence on future grind bands, and started TFD after his former band went on hiatus. In an exclusive interview, Hoak spilled details on TFD’s new album, his philosophy on life, and the upcoming album from the re-united Brutal Truth.
Dan Marsicano: Could you go into details about the origins of TFD?
Richard Hoak: TFD started out as the idea to play music called ‘grind’ at its very simplest, and also to have the emotions expressed by the lyrics to be the simplest expression possible. That’s sort of always directed the band; that’s why there’s only three people in it and not four. That’s why I just play the kick and the snare drums, so I don’t have to carry all those other drums around. I guess a lot of that started with me being bummed out with Brutal Truth’s breakup and I was like ‘oh fuck man, what a waste. Any knucklehead can start a band with a dumb name and go around the world doing grind shows. Oh wait! I’ll start a band called Total Fucking Destruction and travel around the world doing grind shows.’ It was a drunken thought, but snowballed to what it is today.
DM: Your new album, “Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction” is a concept album. Could you explain a bit about the concept?
RH: “Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction” is the story of warriors of the fourth World War, after the collapse of civilization. There are people who will fight to survive and it’s mixed with the Game Boy generation. There’s world-wide global manufacturing of weapons and technology that can go anywhere in the world. You can be a 12-year-old in Africa with an IPod, an AK-47, and a Hello Kitty backpack. It has a lot to do with globalization and giant corporations run the world; turn the Third World children into soldiers.
DM: Is there any main character; I know there is a child with a gun on the cover art…
RH: It has a lot to do with children in the future. I guess the whole concept is more than the “Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction” concept. It’s more of the concept of TFD, the band, and the lifestyle. This is one certain aspect of it. In TFD, we assume that there is a slow-motion apocalypse unfolding around us. We don’t know if it’s the result of the world-wide corporate-military-entertainment-technological complex. Post-modern gadgets fill our lives; take our minds off of what’s really important; that the world civilization is approaching the end of history. When I was a punk-rocker and thought that the world would blow up, it would all be a nuclear cataclysm in seconds, but I since realized that the end of the world could take a hundred or a thousand years. It’s not until the year 2080 that the oceans are suppose to run out of fish. Taking all of that as fact, with TFD, I try to create a sort of…mindset (so people) can come together and celebrate the end of the world.
DM: Let’s shift focus to Brutal Truth for a second. They are back together and you guys are working on a new album. Can you update the status of that?
RH: We recorded at Watchman Studios with a guy named Doug White, who did an amazing job recording bass and drums. We recorded 24 tracks and then Kevin (Sharpe) did his vocals out in Chicago. I think the text mixes are coming in and we are having Jason Fuller from Blood Duster do some test mixes, and if it sounds good, he’s going to mix it.
DM: How does the new Brutal Truth material sound?
RH: It sounds pretty good man. It’s like if you listened to “Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom” and took a step beyond that, and mixed it with the production of “Need To Control” and 30% of the brutal grind of “Extreme Conditions.” I think people are going to dig it; I think the songs are great. I haven’t really heard a lot of it with Kevin’s vocal tracks put on, but it sounds pretty spot on so far.
DM: What’s the biggest misconception that people have about grindcore as a genre?
RH: There are people on the planet who are privileged to have the extra leisure time and extra money to not only survive, but to make noise and create obscure art, like grindcore, renaissance painting, or free-form jazz. I always thought the music was supposed to be meaningful or self-aware; you have to be self-aware of what’s going on.
This is only a small sample of the interview I had with Hoak. You can find the rest of the interview at SMN News. I like to thank Hoak for taking time out to talk to me and don’t forget to visit Total Fucking Destruction’s MySpace page for the latest on the the grind band.