Interview: Hungarian Speedsters Crippled Fox

Budapest, Hungary's Crippled Fox kick off their United States tour tonight in Philadelphia at Century. Scroll below for their full list of tour dates.

For those who enjoy grindcore speed with the circle pits and slam dancing breakdowns of old school punk and crossover thrash, this band will definitely feed your hunger for aggression.

I conducted this email interview with Crippled Fox members Speedy Gonzalez, Dontsee Turkey and Fox Of Grind (F.O.G.) on the eve of their United States tour.

(edited for length)

How do you describe Crippled Fox in your own words?
 Speedy Gonzales: Punk, hardcore, thrash under a minute with old school Venice beach vibe motivated by D.I.Y. attitude and fun.

F.O.G: Thrashcore.

Dontsee Turkey: Fast punk, that’s how i like to say.

What gave you the idea for Thrashcore? 

Speedy Gonzales – I was out of the hardcore scene from 1999 – 2005. I lived in another country and after my return, my older bother showed me several bands I missed in those years. Among them there was this video clip of What Happens Next? from Bay Area and I was hooked. I just liked the idea of the old style crossover attitude by DRI being manifested in that band. Meaning, punks and skins, hardcore kids and "metal heads” are united and having fun, playing fast hardcore music with thrash parts here and there. It was all fit and presented brilliantly. I loved some thrash metal bands from the 80’s but mostly those that got connection to the hardcore scene, basically most of them were inspired by the punk/hardcore scene obviously or coming out of it. You know, bands like, Exodus, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I., Cryptic Slaughter, S.O.D. and so on…

So when I decided to make such band back in summer of 2008. I have been already listening to tons of bands like WHN? and many of them were huge influence, like The Shining, Reproach, Cross Examination, Municipal Waste, Second Opinion to name a few. Back in 2007. I joined a positive hardcore band called Motivation, and I was writing songs there, but some of my songs wasn’t really fit to that style and understood I got to make a band where i can put them out. And I wanted to be a drummer to play the style as i thought to be perfect for them. I asked two guys that I knew I wanna play with, they were Willy Fox da Vox, for vocal and Dontsee Turkey for bass. I told them my ideas, they liked it and a bit later we’ve got Fox ’n’ Roll on guitar and the rest is history.

D.T.: For me the basic thing about thrashcore is that back in 2006 I had to travel from Budapest to Siófok, a city at the lake Balaton, to check out I Object and A.N.S. on their current tour and a whole new world opened to me. The outfit, the simple/raw way of music, skateboards, flip up hats, you know, the whole package. So that was my origin , after that I started to search skatecore and thrashcore bands. And the fun part that back in those days there was like 15-20 people who listened to that kind of hardcore in the whole country –  felt like I found a hidden treasure. So after a few years I was happily joined the idea of the Fox, the rest is history.

Name one thrash metal album that changed your life forever? 

Speedy Gonzales: I wouldn’t say life changing, but definitely changed the game for me, and that was Testament – The Legacy album. I was in 4th grade back in 1988. I was just 10 years old. With my older brother we loved metal music. I don’t know why but we were hooked on hard and aggressive music. Note, that we lived at the end of a socialist era in Budapest, Hungary and these music were kinda "forbidden”, so we listened to everything we could get. Bands like, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Accept, Bon Jovi etc, anyway, whatever that was hard electric guitar in it and was metal. 

So one day in school this classmate of my brother came up to me saying, "you guys got to listen to this." This dude was three years older than me and one year older than my brother because he failed in the 6th grade so he had to repeat that year, thus became a classmate to my brother. He was into metal as well, so we spent time together. God knows how but he could get his hands on some cool copied tapes of different metal bands. So, he gave this tape to me and it was written on it, Testament, The Legacy. 

That day my brother wasn’t in school, he got ill. Now, being so eager to listen to that tape by myself, I asked my daycare teacher if she can give me her tiny cassette player with a minimal speaker built in it. She was cool and handed it over. I placed the tape into the player, pressed the play button and i was like….holy shit. Bang, there starts that massive riff and the speed drumming. I never heard such hard music before.  Like I said, these music wasn’t easy to get, you got to have certain friends and channels, or whatever to get such bands. Plus i was this young kid. So, I rushed back home showed the tape to my brother and from then on we were hunting down everything that was hard and harder. 

F.O.G.: Slayer Show No Mercy. I was 12. shit ripped.

D.T.: I was never really into the thrash metal scene. Looong, boring songs, headbanging forever. I was more of a punk kid, watched a lot of skate videos and i’m sure that I heard there a lot of thrash metal tracks but not whole albums, and not life changers that’s for sure.

What about Grindcore? What's one album that had a huge influence on you?

Speedy Gonzales: My brother listened to some grindcore, mostly Napalm Death, Scum and Harmony Corruption, but that genre wasn’t really my kinda thing.

F.O.G.: Grindcore is my favortie genre of all. I play grind most of the time. I only slow down for the Fox. Cripple Bastards - Life’s Built On Thoughts 7”.  

D.T.: Yeah, Napalm Death - Scum is a classic, but I mostly prefer bands like The Locust, who use grind elements. But first of all, I prefer powerviolence.

What can audiences expect when they see you on tour in the states this November? 

Speedy Gonzales: Fast punk/hardcore/thrash, 40 songs in 25 minutes. Full energy and funny vibe.

F.O.G.: An aggressive and intense outburst of positive energy, to give you the power and motivation to deal with the bullshit of everyday life.

D.T.:  Energy, sweating and smelly farts, that’s what I can provide for you guys. Oh and one more thing. No stops in between songs.

Who are your musical heroes?

Speedy Gonzales: I don’t have heroes, but of course when I was a teen listening to hardcore I had my influences. Ian McKaye of Minor Threat is a person that I like to read his interviews from old time to nowadays. In my early hardcore days I was a huge fan of Youth Of Today and was a big inspiration for sure. As I got older and more open to all kinds of music I found inspiration in several ways by different artists.

F.O.G.: Moondog.

D.T. – Speedy Gonzales

What's the metal and punk scene like in Budapest?

Speedy Gonzales: I can’t tell you about the metal scene, although we’ve got metal fans too. Honestly I don’t even know if there’s any underground metal scene at all. Coz to me, metal was always big with big shows. Anyhow, as the punk scene. Talking about that would be hours long. There are different punk scenes, coz the scene we play in is based on the US punk/hardcore, so to speak. And there is the usual British  punk scene, the two doesn’t mix together. Of course things are changed since the eighties and the nineties. In the past five years or so, the local scene has adopted other genres too, so you can find all kinds of bands within, from traditional hardcore, to grindcore, from d-beat to DC style emo and what not. But it’s all connected by our friend circles and similar attitude.

F.O.G.: It’s pretty tight to be honest. There are a lot of things going on, but it's kinda like a small town scene in a big ass city, so you have few people at shows, but they are pretty knowledgeable. There is a lot of overlap between scenes, and very few active people, but they are super fucking active. There is a flavor to the bands here, that seems to permeate a lot of the things that are done, regardless of genre.

D.T. – I think it’s great, there are tons of shows every week, I think Budapest is kinda important on the European tour map nowadays. The scene is always changing, since a couple of years - I would say - the scene is getting older and the same people just doing some new bands again and again. But now I see, it’s just different, coz youngsters doing their business in another way within their band, but it’s still working. The main problem is, that we are always lacking of a proper scene owned clubs, but there’s always something up.

Are there any bands in your area you recommend listening to ? 

Speedy Gonzales – Sure, what I can recommend is Haramia (ex-Dispolgar), SxOxTxEx, Kristalyvonat, Nauru, Another Way, Grow Up Fuck It Up (they just got reunited), Step On It. There are many, they guys below will give you more.

F.O.G.: Oh boy, here we go. I play in SOTE, Diskobra, Retorsion, Sleeper Cell. Some bands from BP include Mass//Reaction, Run, Gear, Magyar Idők, Demoscene, Berosszulás, Norms, Touch, Contra, Disdain, Yilan, Hajnalpír, Exterminating Angel got back together again, too. There are tons of awesome bands from outside of the city too, Önkiírtás, Gipsy SS, Vörgar, Bicska, Terminátor 1, and the list goes on.

D.T. Diskobra, I heard they’re nice guys:) Touch, Contra, Step On It, Gipsy SS, Haramia, it looks like we are into the same music…

What's your favorite film? 

Speedy Gonzales: There’s a lot, but Godfather 1-3. Yes, the third one too, no matter what people say, that part is just as amazing as the first two. Terminator 2 was a huge thing when it came out and even now days is one of my favorite. Blood In Blood Out, definitely, Training Day, ammm...there are many actually. Oh, i know it’s kinda cute, but A Good Year is a lovely movie I watch with my wife every year in August, since it’s came out in 2007. The soundtrack of this movie is brilliant.

F.O.G.: Stargate.

D.T.: Stargate? Really? …. High Fidelity, but i think just because I love the book too.

Thanks for going one on one with the GRIM-1. Anything you'd like to say to your fans?

Thank you all the support the love, it means a lot. We gonna thrash each of every show and i’m looking forward every gig, meeting with new people, presenting our music to new scenes. By the love of our fans we are able to travel around the globe, making friendships, get to know awesome bands and people, so i can’t be thankful enough for them. Thanx a lot to Gary Crit (from Hashgrinder, Worser) for making this tour for us and every organizer in each city for putting up our shows. See ya’ll. Thanx for the interview!

F.O.G.: Keep shit positive, especially in these hopeless times. See you soon.

D.T.: Don’t be so serious, have fun! And thanks for your time to read our words.

Listen to Crippled Fox here and see them on the road in the United States at the dates below, with support from Worser and Buzzherd.