Basics first. Who are you and what do you do? Bands? Career?
I am a ghost in the machine.
I haunt the world of things.
Trapped by ties that linger beyond the edge of death.
I have a name
I have a face
I have hands that grasp at shadows
All resurrected from moss and mud,
Animated by the dark wisp of the specter that I am.
My name is Vic. DiCara, Victor Damien. I have inhabited this dream for almost 40 years now.
Can you give a bit of a background about your time in hardcore/punk? Starting with Beyond and Inside Out, continued on through 108.
In high school being into BMX had me hang out with some skateboard people, so a few kids into thrash metal and hardcore started hanging out with us and visa versa. So I got into music. I picked up a guitar and joined a band called Toxic Phlegm. Kevin Egan from Beyond was also in this band. Once I learned how a band works I started a new one called Socially Incorrect. Vin Novara from 1.6 Band was in this one. Then I was drafted to Inner Strength - a band actually playing real-ish shows. Alan Cage from Beyond, Burn and Quicksand was in this one. Inner Strength merged with Beyond, and soon the bass player quit, so I played bass.
Then I moved to California. I met Chris and Alex from Chain of Strength and they connected me with Zack (zdlr) and we did Inside Out.
Then I moved to Goloka Vrindaban or sort of, and defected from Inside Out into Shelter with Ray Cappo from YOT. Soon I got booted from Shelter and started 108. I've been doing 108 since then, put with a pause for about 10 years. In that time I did an unnamed band with Chris and Frosty from Chain of Strength, and Shaun Ross from Excel. Then I tried to do a band called Charge but that went up in ugly flames. Finally I did Burn with Alan again. After that 108 finally re-materialized, thank god.
What are the most noticeable differences in hardcore/punk from the early 90's to today?
I'm no expert. To me they appear pretty much identical, especially to the ear. I think the biggest difference is how many generations of copies you are dealing with. I mean in 83-86 you had some really creative stuff. Then from 86-89 you have ok stuff but it was all more or less looking backwards at what already happened. Then you got a 2nd wave of copies between 90 - 92, but this generation seemed to be pretty forward and inventive, so you got some interesting new permutations in this round of copies. I think for example Quicksand, Into Another, maybe 108 & Inside Out if I want to be self-congratulatory, other interesting new ideas, even though we were all tied still to the 86 blueprint, we were still stretching it. Then you had sort of a breakdown 93-97 where things got all about ideas and movements and the music itself sort of suffered. I think that also had to do with the failure of hardcore to make the jump to hyperspace and become mainstream - in 93 there was an attempt to make that jump as a result of Kurt Cobain and his band. Anyway. After 98 I have no idea what the fuck went on, but what I can say is there must have been a LOT more photocopies of photocopies being made, cuz these days there ain't nothing even close to a Quicksand or Into Another.
Could you give a brief explanation of Krishna Consciousness and it's role in the hardcore scene?
The second part sort of the query confused me for a second, "role in the hardcore scene" - The hardcore scene is not of any particular importance in explaining what Krishna Consciousness is - but I am wondering now if you want me to explain how Krishna consciousness got involved in the hardcore scene, so I will try to do both.
a) The meaning of life is pleasure.
Existence itself is manifest only for this purpose.
b) We evolve our understanding of what "pleasure" is as we grow through the species and through our human journey. At first we think that sensual stimulation is the summit of pleasure, but soon as human beings we realize that the emotional experience behind these sensations is far superior. As we evolve further we realize that love is the most pleasurable of these emotional experiences. We then have to evolve our understanding of love... we realize that the more selfless it becomes the more pleasure it generates, ironically.
We simultaneously need to evolve our self-concept - realizing our identity first as the body - a tangle of senses; next as the mind, a pool of emotions; later on as a "heart" or a "soul" - a repository of love. Thus we realize our identity is higher than physical reality. We thereby come to understand things which transcend the obvious. We realize OCCULT LOVE - love on a metaphysical level - as the source of unfathomable pleasure.
Finally we evolve to understand the supreme occult relationship with the most lovable transcendent being: who we call "Krishna" (which means "all-attractive"). The absolute perfection of life occurs when we evolve to the stage in which our entire being is interwoven with the consciousness of the paramount pleasure of absolute love for this all-attractive being, Krishna. That is what it has come to be called "Krishna Consciousness"
As you can see, the role of the hardcore scene in the gigantic scope of this transcendental journey gets somewhat blurry or obscure. Hardcore kids have always been misfits even before they were called Hardcore Kids, when they were Punks, or Rockers, or Cool Cats before that. Misfits always know that the world is completely fake and that its real meaning is completely vacant and absent from life. So these misfits are always inclined to find answers to this emptiness. Some small percentage of them have always turned to occult and spiritual practice. In some sense this is "religion" but for most, religion feels like a part of the fake world, and they take instead to "spiritualism" or "occultism" or "transcendentalism"
So, this is what happened, really. It was around 85 or 86 in New York City, I think it was actually Tompkins Square park, but I may be wrong. I am friends with the man who organized it. They, the Hare Krishnas, started feeding people for free at the park. Punks would come by and make fun of the Krishnas (of course, punks would make fun of EVERYTHING) and eat the food. A few of them got "brainwashed" in other words, they started to sit around and listen to what the Krishna's were talking about. This is what started the first wave of Krishna Consciousness in hardcore around 1986.
After visiting your website, I see that you offer astrological readings and consultations. Could you give an explanation as to what this is all about?
The reason why the world exists is to help us individual beings evolve. We who inhabit this world are actually pretty unique among all the beings in existence. We are sort of strange, and I think this is actually a pretty cool thing, in the long term. We are strange because we have a mix of divine qualities which include the concept that we are the supreme divinity - to one subconscious extent or the other - in some few actually to a conscious extreme. This makes us unwilling to enjoy the purpose of life - which is the supreme experience of pleasure via transcendent love for the absolute lovable being.
So that's why this world exists.
It is a sort of spiritual gymnasium in which we can exercise our desires until we have sorted them all out and evolved ourselves willingly into a new level of understanding ourselves which allows us to know our identity with the supreme divinity without making us loathe to focus on giving love rather than receiving it.
The equipment in this gym is the law of karma. It is a machine which gradually helps the soul evolve. It do so using a very simple principle which pavlov discovered and explained pretty well. Things we do which are more selfish earn reactions which help us become inclined not to act that way in the future, while things we do which are more selfless earn reactions that encourage us to continue in that more selfless fashion.
This process takes place not very much in the small conscious mind of our limited experience in a single lifetime. It takes place in the huge transcendent mind of the soul, which is not a physical body, but which transmigrates from one body to the next in an endless cycle of evolution and devolution.
The universe is the machine which operates the function of Karma to evolve us to a more whole state of being. You can read the positions of things in that universe to know what karma's are going to bear fruit and when they are going to bear fruit. Thus by studying and interpreting the positions of the planets and stars relative to earth and to an individual you can learn about your own karmic process of evolution - and even down to rather minute details.
In all your years within the hardcore scene, is there one memory that will forever be ingrained in you? A unique experience unlike any other?
There are way more than one. I have been very blessed and lucky in that my life is FULL of uniquely memorable experiences. I sometimes feel like I live for a year in each passing of the Earths day. I am very grateful that Mother Nature has treated me so kindly, in her compassion. When you ask me that question about a dozen memories come to mind. I will pick one at random.
I liked when Inside Out would play at Spanky's cafe (the restaurant) in Riverside. Onetime a homeless guy came in to see the show. That was a very memorable event.
Is there any one band you are excited about in 2010 hardcore?
No.
But there are some that are better than others. Right now Rise and Fall and Lewd Acts are two that I remember at the moment.
I am not authority. This is just my opinion about modern hardcore bands. And to be honest my opinion on that subject might as well be called fairly unimportant.
Burritos? Are you a fan? If so, what fillings are crucial to your perfect burrito?
I'm not really into them. I don't like feeling heavy in my stomach and having tons of gas. I must be weird, right? Seriously I think they are over-rated but whatever. As far as Mexican goes I would prefer enchiladas. Actually I haven't had burritos in a long time, since moving to Japan. So we went to the Costco in Japan and bought beans and tortillas and made some. My wife makes em damn good cuz she fries them. So I can get into them now and them. But Southern California was just burrito overkill to the max... dude.
Any last words?
Samhain is excellent.
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