To this point in 2016 Southern California’s FURY have really made their mark on the US hardcore scene having released their debut full length “Paramount” backed up by extensive touring to support it. Fury are one of those bands that don’t play the social media game so they were a bit of a challenge to get in contact with. When I saw them coming through my area with the “Life & Death Tour” (with Terror, Power Trip, Harms Way, Angel Du$t, and more in July) I made it a point to try and track them down. They played Long Island on a Thursday night and I drove right from work to the show which was already over but I found 3 of their members loading out equipment in the parking lot and I caught up with them, bought their CD and worked out the particulars for this interview which eventually went down via email in August. “Paramount” took a bunch of listens for it to sink in with me and at first I was thinking I might be trying too hard to like it since their band members were really down to earth nice guys who had their brains screwed in the right way. My initial thoughts were wrong as “Paramount’ has become one of my absolute favorite releases of 2016 mainly because they have their own unique sound and style that is pretty hard to describe. Vocalist Jeremy and guitarist Madison answered all of the questions here. Get their "Paramount" LP ASAP!  Lead photo by Gray Muncy, Graphics by: Bas Spierings. 

 

Photo by: Dan Rawe

IE: 2016 has been a breakout year where Fury has reached a lot of new fans with the release of your first full length as well as some solid touring. Can you break down Fury's 2016 so far and what does the rest of the year hold for you guys?

 

Jeremy: We spent the beginning of the year writing and preparing for recording. We played a few shows (United Blood in Virginia and Rainfest in Seattle) during the process. Once we were done with putting the album together, we got ready for the Life & Death Tour. Our record release show is going to be a joint-release in mid-September with Mizery for the “Absolute Light” LP which rips ass straight up. We have a weeklong tour with Turnstile, Angel Du$t, Big Bite and Krimewatch in late October and working on a European tour for winter.

 

IE: Tell us more about the Life & Death Tour as it relates to Fury. Where did you guys start off, where did it end and what places did you go to while on that tour?

 

Jeremy: We started in Chicago and did a loop around the Northeast (Canada included) down to Florida and then across through Texas to California. We played a bunch of places we had never played before like Montreal and Chicago and New Orleans.

 

IE: It is a unique tour within the US in that it packages a bunch of real deal hardcore bands together and really hits all key spots. With playing so many shows with the same bands night after night did you guys gravitate to any other band you may not have been great friends with and make some new friends on this tour?

 

Jeremy: I was excited about not knowing everyone going into the tour and I've told other people this as well, but it felt like summer camp. We shared a van with Red Death and it helped having friends we already knew in our van to sort of go through the nuances of a new type of tour together. I feel lucky because l got to hang out with a different person from all the bands every day. I had a lot of good conversations and learned a lot from everyone whether or not they know it.

 

Madison: Had a lot of great friends going into this tour and came out with even more of them. Literally every band on the bill was full of ill fools. I was able to share a lot of my interests with most of the guys traveling, stuff outside of hardcore even outside of music which was awesome and made the month long tour feel like a week. 

 

PHOTO BY: EDEN KITTIVER

 

IE: When it was announced that Scott from Terror would be leaving the tour due to a bad back did it take any momentum out of the tour on a whole? What were the people in other bands saying and did you notice any change in attendance to the shows after Scott went back home and their bassist David took over on vocals?

 

Jeremy: It didn't seem to deflate the momentum from any of the bands. It didn't really get discussed for too long, just sort of a "Well, that sucks but let's go" deal it seemed like from everyone's reactions.

 

Madison: Scott is the master but I've been seeing Terror for 10 plus years so it was cool to see something different, something that will probably never happen again. 

 

IE: When you are out in a van day after day for a month straight of touring, sleeping in strangers houses, eating when you may not want to eat, and basically getting none of the comforts of home what do you learn or what have you learned about your fellow bandmates?

 

Jeremy: It's taught me to be more aware of what's around me or especially the different communities because sometimes that's where you learn the most is in new places, maybe with different ideals or ways of doing things. I learned that there are still really great and decent people out there who appreciate what we're all trying to do too.

 

IE: What was the best day start to finish on this last tour for all of you as a whole and what made it the best day of the tour?

 

Jeremy: My favorite day was getting back into America from playing Montreal the night before. We played Albany and they had one of the best ice cream shops that was attached to a gas station or something like that right next to the venue. There was a washer and dryer and shower at the venue as well. After the show there was a soft-opening for the restaurant "Nick's Bar and Grille" in the back parking lot, tons of ZZ Top to keep the party moving you know. I was chosen to stay with Power Trip in their van that night to celebrate the soft-opening and I had a real good time that night, played some pool even. The next morning I found out my car back home had gotten towed while parked right outside my house, so things went downhill real fast. But I'll always have Albany...

 

Madison: Mine had to be the day before, in Toronto. We get held up at the border and we all start cracking jokes and we're dying from laughing, this Canadian border guard fool starts getting all mad at us and giving us attitude because we were actually having a good time there. Finally, we get through and make it to Toronto. Now I haven't been there for a couple years and I've actually only been there two or three times but I count Toronto on the short list as one of the best cities around. We get to the club and it's cool, and load in. A few of us had been hearing about this burger place down the street that Matty Matheson owns and how it's the best burger in the city. I had been to his restaurant "Parts and Labour" a couple years beforehand when Soul Search played there for Not Dead Yet Fest and it was delicious. Anyway, so we mob it over there and it's a nicer spot so each of us drop like fifteen bucks we take it to go cause Sam BBB is supposed to be stage managing. We get back to the venue, I walk upstairs and who do I see... Matty Matheson. He introduces himself and points to literally thirty burgers that he brought for everyone on the tour. Needless to say we were all shaking our heads.

PHOTO BY: GRAY MUNCY

 

But truthfully, after I ate my burger I wasn't even mad man. That thing was unreal. Definitely worth it. Plus Alf, Danny and I low key split one of the free burgers. You know how stoners "puff, puff, pass" we were straight up "bite, bite, passing" this burger between us. That's some real hefty shit. Some real rough shit. Like if my girlfriend reads this, I'd break up with myself for her that's how rough I feel telling you this right now. And honestly.. it only gets worse.. So later we start setting up after Red Death and as you could imagine we are all feeling terrible and extremely full. But we start playing and it's awesome. Lots of old friends and locals came out and that to me was top 3 best sets of that whole tour. Shout out to Demolition, Ancient Heads, Wild Side and S.H.I.T., those fools are always so welcoming and genuine. Anyways, sets done, vibe of the show is great and soon enough Terror is finishing their set at the end of the night. Everyone’s back upstairs hanging out and suddenly three dudes walk in and drop off like fifteen pizzas and 10 pounds of hot wings. I thought I died and went to heaven. Matty also owns a pizza spot and had them bring the most pizza I have ever seen. But not only that it was also some of the best. He does sesame seeds in his crust which doesn't sound necessarily revolutionary but straight up it totally changes the game. Every slice I had was better than the last. The fucking Big Mac pizza blew my actual mind. It was perfect. Then the wings... I can't even begin man. To put it simply, I encourage anyone and everyone that has the opportunity or means to go to Toronto to eat these wings. They killed. After that I basically had to lay down and roll to the van because I was so full. We then went to La Forge's lair and I found a bomb corner to sleep in. Connor from Red Death also tried to get a glass of water in the middle of the night and knocked over a dozen pans which woke up the entire apartment building. True story. Classic Connor. Perfect day. 

PHOTO BY: AARON HERRERA

 

IE: You guys come from an area in Southern California that has dozens of all-time great punk and hardcore bands. What are your first recollections of finding out about this music and how did yourselves and your friends get more and more involved with it?

 

Jeremy: I got into it from a few places over the years while in middle school, the two main ones being my friend Riley from back home and some local bands that guys like Madison and other friends like Kyle and Mike from Forced Order playing shows around my town growing up. Riley was the cousin of one of my middle school homies and he would wear Sex Pistols shirts and was what I considered the first real life punk kid I ever knew. He saw Gorilla Biscuits back then and told me about it the next day and a week later I got “Start Today”. Madison and all those guys' bands were the first local ones who had people in the crowd singing along and moshing and all that stuff, that made a big impact on me for sure.

 

Fury's 2014 debut demo on Mosher's Delight Records. Click to listen

IE: I read that Fury’s first show was held in a gym and that you guys played in a boxing ring. Can you tell us when this was, who else played and anything else you remember from that first show?

 

Jeremy: We played our first show at the now defunct Munoz Gym in Bakersfield, CA in January of 2014 and I remember ‘cause it was right before my birthday. Hounds Of Hate was on tour and two other bands dropped so it was just us opening for HOH. It was in an actual boxing ring and it's my favorite spot for shows ever. It was a training gym for boxers during the day and a punk venue at night. I remember eating pizza before we played and throwing it up right after we played.

 

Madison: RIP Munoz. Best venue!

 

IE: Can you talk a little about the progression of Fury’s sound from the 2013 demo to 2016's “Paramount” LP? The 2013 demo was a solid effort for a new band but with “Paramount” everything just seems to have this cohesiveness that is light years ahead of that demo.

 

Jeremy: Great songwriters are a big mystery. I think Madison is the best. No one around makes me feel as much as he does with his songs, I feel like Tony Kukoč to his Jordan. He is seamless and I along with everyone else is real lucky to have him around.

 

IE: When you listen to that 2013 demo now what do you think about it? Still love it or do you cringe?

 

Jeremy: I cringe when I hear my voice on anything. I love the songs still, especially “The Fool” and the background vocals as well as the end solo on “Day Today”.

 

Madison: I'm probably my own worse critic but I enjoy the demo. It was some songs I had written in my room and then recorded in the very same room not long after. We thought a handful of our friends would listen and vibe but here we are a couple years later still talking about it which blows my mind. Definitely never thought it would be heard outside of Orange County like most of our bands. 

 

Photo by: Kiabad Meza

IE: Madison has a record store in Anaheim that doubles as a recording studio where “Paramount” was recorded. It sounds like a unique setup. Can you tell us more about that and is that your full time profession?

 

Jeremy: I'll let Madi fully explain that. I'm bout it bout it though.

 

Madison: It's called Paradise Records in Anaheim, California, it's basically just an outlet to do everything I'm interested in. It's a studio, it's a record shop, it's a venue and it's a record label that I can release stuff for my homies. You asked if it's my profession and I wouldn't say I'm making a career out of it but it's paying the bills and at this point it's self-sustaining. I encourage anyone who's local that’s reading this to come through or make it out to a show. Also, I'll shamelessly plug the studio, if you're vibing the sounds coming out of there hit us up at paradisefuzz@gmail.com for studio time.

 

IE: When I met you guys after your show on Long Island back in July Madison was telling me that “Paramount” was supposed to be an EP and that when he started the writing process he had a ton of ideas come to him and everything just clicked as this release morphed into a full length. What are your feelings on it now that you have had a few months to listen to it as well as play most of these songs out on a night in night out basis? Do you like how everything came out and if you could have a do over with any aspects of this record what would it be?

 

Jeremy: I'm real proud of it and all of us for making a cool document that we all like and would listen to had we been on the other side of things. I wouldn't change anything but that's just because I like the idea of a document and how timing factors into things outside of someone's control when they make something.

 

Madison: I agree with Jeremy. We set out to make a hardcore/punk LP, so we wrote and recorded on our own, the best hardcore/punk LP we could and I think it turned out cool. 

 

PHOTO BY: KIABAD MEZA

 

IE: Fav track off of it and why?

 

Jeremy: “The Feeling” is my favorite but I like “Duality Of Man” a lot and “Novo”. “The Feeling” is just about life and the people and feelings connected with it, and how I think they're all worthwhile. “D.O.M.” is just about ideas around humanness and things not being so black and white you know what I mean? “Novo” is about friends, relationships and such.

 

Madison: Probably the last track, “The Feeling” which is where I'm hoping the direction of the band heads. Funny since it was actually written before we even started writing our 7" “Kingdom Come”. I honestly thought it would never see the light of day. Even when I was mixing this record I was confident no one would fuck with us after this thing dropped... It's literally the first thing every friend spoke to me about when we'd meet up on that last tour which was a real humbling surprise. 

 

Click the cover to "Paramount" to stream in it's entirety

IE: I have looked at and even stared at the cover art of “Paramount” numerous times and I still... for the life of me don't get it. How did the cover art come about and is there any kind of meaning behind it?

 

Jeremy: I like how charcoal looks as far as artwork goes for books and records (“End To End” 7" on Foundation for example) and wanted something like that for us. Our friend Chris did the artwork for it and I saw he was messing around with that medium so I figured I'd ask and see what he thought. The cover art is whatever you want it to be but I see "choice" when I look at it.

 

IE: The list of other bands you guys have been in or are still in is a pretty long one. Do you feel that if everyone concentrated just on Fury that you could accomplish a lot more collectively?

 

Jeremy: I think we all move at a healthy pace that makes sense with all our schedules. We do this and all our bands for fun and I don't think any of our group of friends makes stuff for accomplishments besides doing something that you'd be proud of with your friends.

 

Madison: Jeremy put it best. All of our bands especially Fury were started and continued out of the need to create and to be enjoyed by ourselves and our good friends.

 

IE: Fury has no social media accounts (that I know of at least) to speak of. To some in bands this might sound like a bad idea as the point of most bands is to be seen and heard by as many people as you can. For some reason though within the hardcore scene some bands have taken the no social media approach and have actually gotten pretty popular from being well out of the spotlight. Why doesn't Fury get involved with the social media game and in your opinion is it more beneficial than having that presence?

 

Jeremy: I just didn't think it made sense to make anything. Just wasn't for us. It would've turned into a blackmail roast fest between all of us within a week straight up.

 

Madison: I just wanted to also add that a band social media just wasn't our thing. I feel that none of us would even have time for it. Besides, this band is personal to all of us so we keep that way.

 

IE: Do you have anything else to add before we wrap things up? Thanks for doing this.

 

Jeremy: Nah just keep rockin’ in the free world and thank you.

 

PHOTO BY: EDEN KITTIVER

PHOTO BY: MATT GILL