"I think that the track 'New York' is just a Top 5 Templars song, to be honest," says Combust vocalist Andrew Vacante tells No Echo. So, why are we discussing the Templars, well, the New York City Oi! institution just got the cover treatment from Andrew and his Combust cohorts.
The original version of "New York" appeared on the Templars' 1994 album, The Return of Jacques De Molay. "The lyrics are a great way to describe what New York City was at a point," Andrew continues.
"I like to represent the fact that we all come from that background of growing up, going to shows in Brooklyn and Manhattan and Queens as kids and witnessing all the chaos.
Clearly making the most of the current lockdown situation, Combust also recorded a NYHC-laced take on FEAR's "I Don’t Care About You," a song from the Los Angeles punk legends' 1982 The Record LP.
"FEAR has so much lore to them, man. The Saturday Night Live set, all the crazy show stories, Flea playing bass for them, Ving’s wild musical background. They really were such a crazy change of pace for punk, and they were also so talented musically.
"I’ve loved this band since I was a kid. Our drummer Dave really does as well. This song in particular was always my favorite. "FEAR's lyrics were just always so simple. They always fired me up. I think I miss that in a lot of hardcore and punk today. It was just simple and made you pissed off."
"In general, more people need to look to punk as the blueprint when they start hardcore bands, rather than metalcore. I hope these tracks sort of spark that inspiration into newer kids who fuck with us but may not know about punk bands."
For the uninitiated, FEAR was founded by a musician/actor named Lee Ving, a true character if there ever was one in punk. "I think Ving is almost an enigma," laughs Andrew. "He’s cool as fuck, bro. He's a jazz player who turned punk, and then wrote some of the best tongue in cheek stuff in punk to date, in my opinion."
Both Combust cover tracks are available on all streaming outlets.
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Tagged: combust
