Legendary Weapons is a brand new collaborative vegan straight edge hardcore project between Sky Page and Davis Driver.
While Sky has been known for his previous drumming contributions in the Northwest Hardcore scene (Cutting Through, Safe and Sound), his move to Omaha, Nebraska in 2019 resulted in less time behind the kit and more time honing his guitar chops. This resulted in the songs heard on Legendary Weapon’s demo, which are akin to modern bands like GEL and Fixation, while paying tribute to the classics like Brotherhood and Straight Ahead (they even cover them on their demo).
Davis experienced a similar trajectory, being known for playing bass in the Oklahoma/Texas-based hardcore band Life Force, but lended his voice to the project following his relocation to Portland, Oregon.
The pair were joined by Jason McGhee who was not only at the technical helm of the band: recording, mixing, and mastering the project, but also providing bass on the demo, due to an injury that prevented Davis from being able to play. Jason’s previous technical output includes works for a variety of Northwest hardcore bands like Dying Wish, xCauterizex, Furnace, Enact, and Dying For It.
Sky and Davis answered a few questions about the band and their upcoming plans.
Legendary Weapons is a straight edge band. Why do you think that straight edge is still relevant in 2023 and what are you saying that hasn’t been said before? If you’re not saying anything new, why do people need the reminder?
I’m not sure there is anything new or profound to say about straight edge that hasn’t already been said a thousand times over. It’s something that is important to us individually and a common bond between the two of us and many important people in our lives.
The straight edge song on this demo isn’t about being exclusionary or holier than thou, it’s much more personal than that.
What inspired you to both fill out roles in a band that you haven’t done previously? Was it nerve-racking to try something new?
Sky: Absolutely nerve-racking for me. At the beginning of the pandemic, I lived in an apartment and couldn’t make much noise, so drums were living in cases in my closet for a while. I kept myself sane by watching about a thousand movies (not an exaggeration) and teaching myself how to play guitar with Slayer and Pumpkins songs.
When I went to record guitars and drums for this, I was way more practiced and ready on guitar, I hadn’t even written drum parts up until I recorded them, and I was kind of rusty so I kept it simple which I think is mostly to the benefit of this kind of hardcore. I just made sure I was hitting hard and getting clean takes, and I’m really happy with how they turned out.
Davis: I’ve wanted to do vocals for a No Tolerance-style band for years and could never find straight edge dudes that knew how to write that kind of music.
So, in early 2023 I just randomly messaged Sky and was like, “want to do a No Tolerance-style band that fucking loves kung fu and horror movies and is vegan straight edge as fuck?” And a few months later here we are.
I’d done vocals in a metalcore band in high school, but this was completely different so yes I was nervous about it because I wasn’t sure I’d have the sound for what we were doing. Working with Jason though quickly made my nerves go away and I’m stoked with the finished product.
The two of you don’t live close to each other. What is the objective for this project?
The two of us are completely on the same page about what this band is for. That’s to write shit that we like about stuff that we have in common and keep doing it until it stops being fun or starts feeling like work.
If we get asked to play shows, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But for now we have a nearly finished EP to focus our efforts on.
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Tagged: legendary weapons
