“I genuinely do not believe you can be a hardcore band without politics,” declares Jerkova, vocalist of Punitive Damage, a self-proclaimed “fast, loud, and pissed off hardcore punk” band from the Pacific Northwest on a mission to raise their voices, and the volume, as a positive force for change. “I think that’s the spice of life with hardcore, digging your toes in the ground and standing [up for] your convictions and values with your whole chest.” That’s exactly what Punitive Damage has done time and again, channeling their fury and frustration into activism and awareness.
Puni’s latest EP, Hate Training, released on October 25th on Convulse Records, is six blistering tracks of unfiltered rage and condemnation of the horrific events that are unfolding before our eyes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. “When you are asked in the future what you did in the face of genocide fueled by your own money, what’s your answer gonna be?” questions Jerkova, reminding us that silence is truly tantamount to consent, that we each have a voice to raise, a responsibility to speak up about the atrocities we are all witnessing in real time.
Fueled by the same calculated fury that Punitive Damage has always brought to their music, yet somehow tighter and more refined than ever, Hate Training is equal parts activism and catharsis. A scream for change in a world seemingly hellbent on repeating over and over the mistakes of our forebears, but also the painful expression of helplessness and frustration at seeing the blatant injustices and atrocities committed, but feeling powerless to stop them.
On writing the album, Jerkova admits, “it was really hard, I’m not gonna lie. I just struggled to meaningfully convey what I was feeling and hearing this past year. I didn’t want to be cheap with words, and I didn’t want to be unclear. I have probably rewritten each song about a dozen times over.” That intentional approach, the care taken to pack a vicious punch while maintaining their foothold firmly in the realm of compassion and humanity, comes through loud and clear.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jerkova about the band, the message they hope Hate Training will deliver loud and clear, and their commitment to speaking truth to power. I hope you enjoy the interview, check out Hate Training NOW on all streaming platforms.
Photos by: Oscar Bloom – bloomxco.com – IG: bloomxphoto
Nikki: To start the interview, can you introduce us to the band? Who’s in Punitive Damage and how would you describe your sound to anyone who hasn’t heard the band before?
Jerkova: Hey! I’m Jerkova. I’m the vocalist for Punitive Damage. With me is Czecho on lead guitar, Teejer1 on rhythm guitar, Kermit on bass, and Alejandro on drums.
I have a hard time answering this question haha. I’ve been told we’re a scrappy band – fast, loud, and pissed off hardcore punk. We’re not really just a hardcore band or just a punk band. We live kinda in the middle of both worlds.
You hail from the Pacific Northwest, with members from Canada and the US. How does that unique make up both challenge and enhance the band? Do you find you have different perspectives coming from different places even though you share many sentiments? Does it make writing, practicing, or even touring more challenging?
I think the PNW punk and hardcore scene is quite different from others because an international border smack dab in the middle of us is just a normal part of our scene, albeit an annoying quirk of ours. Sharing band members across borders is a pretty normal thing, or having a band that has members living in different cities is not unusual either. You learn to work with the quirks and the annoyances, because, if you don’t, your bands don’t exist, and your scene flops.
So, I’d say that it makes a lot of us work harder and [be] more ambitious. We don’t get the luxury of all being in the same city or have the ease of a big scene in a small space. So, if you want it, you can’t sit around for a band – you gotta make it happen.
I like that about Vancouver, Seattle, Vancouver Island, Bellingham, Kelowna, Kamloops, Olympia, Everette, and every other city I’m missing. Dealing with annoying bullshit is kinda our bread and butter, and we use that towards making great music.
Punitive Damage has always been extremely vocal, in your lyrics and messages as well as in your personal lives, about your political and social views. Would you go so far as to label yourselves a “political hardcore band”?
Honestly, I think we’re just a cut and dry hardcore band.
I genuinely do not believe you can be a hardcore band without politics. Otherwise what’s driving the ass beating music? Neutrality? No way. You’d have the most boring music in the world. I’ve played in bands that have tried that, and I’ve seen bands try that, and those are the bands nobody remembers.
I think that’s the spice of life with hardcore, digging your toes in the ground and standing [up for] your convictions and values with your whole chest. Whether it’s for the wellbeing of your friends and family, personal struggles from the conditions of the world around [us], [or] the insincerity we experience from the world today and the expectations of us. You can’t escape it – that commentary is what makes our (the scene’s) music good. There’s a reason there’s a draw to it.
As for Punitive Damage, personally I just have no interest in talking about anything else other than the observations and material conditions affecting me, those around me, or those in this world. And it’s nice to be able to just do that – directly talk about it.
The best way I can summarize Punitive Damage is in the words of Zack de la Rocha,“Anger is a gift.”
Two members of Puni, Jerkova and Czecho, are siblings. How does that unique dynamic affect the band? Were you both always interested in music and subculture? How did you end up in a band together?
It’s probably annoying to the rest of the band to have two of the most opinionated and goofy nerds in the same band haha. But, I think it also lends to Puni D, too, because we’re both extremely driven and dedicated musicians who just want to tour and play music purely for the love of the game.
Getting into music, Czecho is the whole reason I became a musician. He’s a phenomenal musician who learned his instrument entirely on his own from sheer determination. And, he became inspired by our older siblings and their love of music. Seeing what he could do and his drive to just get it is what got me to pick up my first bass.
As for playing in the same band, it just kinda happened? We’ve played in our own bands for years and years with very little intersection. It wasn’t until much later in our lives, after having dealt with band after band falling through from having no ambition that we are just kinda doing projects together? Our first one was Policy of Truth, which actually had our friend and, now current Puni D guitarist, Teejer1.
Your brand new EP, Hate Training, on Convulse Records is a complete work taking direct aim at the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict. What made you center the entire album around that specific idea? Did you always want your next album to coalesce around one idea or concept? At what point in the writing process did you decide to commit the entire album to speaking to these issues? Was everyone immediately on board or were there differing opinions about how to approach the album?
It wasn’t honestly an intentional thing, it was something that just happened. Everything I was writing just kept revolving around what’s been happening in the Gaza Strip and everyday in the news, the discourse, the propaganda, and surrounding conversations have been nothing short of maddening to witness.
There wasn’t really any other way this record could have gone. Everyone in the band felt the same way without even really needing to discuss it. We all felt the same way, so it was just a really natural conclusion we all had.
I think as heavily active individuals for Palestinian liberation on our own time, it would be disingenuous to not use whatever tiny platform we have to continue that activism further.
If you had to condense the message of Hate Training into just a few sentences, what would it be? What do you want people to walk away thinking (or thinking about)?
Ask yourself what kind of person asks for concessions on your humanity? Truly and honestly if you look past the clever argumentation and rhetoric, what is actually being asked of you when someone tells you the “other” is subhuman and deserves to be annihilated for the crime of existing. Ask yourself why have you been primed and conditioned to make an exception to your humanity to the Palestinians? Is the person that’s telling you that men, women, and children deserve to be starved a good person you want to align yourself with? Is the person who calls Palestinian babies terrorists, who call them children of darkness, sane, good person? Is the person who is telling you that what you’re seeing with your own eyes isn’t actually real, and that you shouldn’t trust your judgement and instinct to watch an entire oppressed population being massacred a normal, level headed person?
Make no mistake – there is no nuance when it comes to what’s happening in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Or, to put it more simply, use your fucking head. When you are asked in the future what you did in the face of genocide fueled by your own money, what’s your answer gonna be?
What was the writing process like for Hate Training? Do one or two members take the lead when it comes to writing music or is it more of a collaborative effort?
It was really hard, I’m not gonna lie. I just struggled to meaningfully convey what I was feeling and seeing this past year. I didn’t want to be cheap with words, and I didn’t want to be unclear. I have probably rewritten each song about a dozen times over.
Puni D is a pretty collaborative band. Czecho also co-writes a lot of our music. He’s an excellent writer and I often turn to him for advice and thoughts. He was great with this record in helping better distill what was being said.
Jess Nyx was also a part of the writing too. Even in the studio, I was rewriting because I didn’t like what I had, and she helped me better work and parse through what I had. It was a treat getting to watch her lyricism work in real time because it looked almost effortless to her.
The track “All or Nothing” features Jess Nyx of Mortality Rate and World of Pleasure, how did you connect with Jess to make the track happen?
Jess has been my closest friend for years and years now, and I’m lucky enough to play in World of Pleasure with her.
She just happened to be in town while recording was happening and she would spend time with us in the studio. I kinda just asked and she was psyched to jump in.
There has always been a strong connection between punk and hardcore music and social and political activism – what were some of the bands that you first connected with on that level? At what point did you realize music could be a form of activism? What made you want to get involved?
This is me speaking from when I was child in like the 7th grade, but it was Bad Religion and Rise Against for me – a combination of bands that make no sense together haha.
Rise Against had a direct impact on me becoming vegetarian then vegan thanks to their traumatizing video “Ready To Fall.” I think that was probably my most vivid memory of a band using their platform to talk about something more meaningful and upsetting like animal agriculture.
Bad Religion was a great band for me in terms of being more meaningful with their words. I distinctly remembering having to pull up the dictionary to even know what Greg was saying haha. But, it was monumental in shaping my outlook.
Beyond the idea of activism, what bands have influenced you sonically? Where do you draw musical inspiration from?
Strictly for vibes and sonic inspiration, for sure KISS and AC/DC. I’m not kidding. Those two bands are like a cornerstone for Puni D sonically. There is no single practice or get together that doesn’t just devolve into an in depth discussion about either band haha.
Hardcore is a much larger genre than ever before, and not everyone making music or going to shows is necessarily as interested in activism. As a band that is very vocal about the importance of activism, how do you feel about that? Is it ever okay for hardcore or punk just to be about the music and not about the message?
I think that even those bands that don’t necessarily have an overt political tilt or focus on activism are, themselves, activists in their own communities with building a robust music scene. Or with making music accessible in ways like free outdoor generator shows, putting on shows, letting kids in who don’t have money to pay for the door. Those actions in themselves are a form of activism, it’s just a smaller form of it 🙂
With Hate Training set to release on October 25th, what’s coming next for Punitive Damage? You’re heading out on tour with Destiny Bond, any other tours or shows to announce or other upcoming projects you’d like to share?
We’ve got a big European tour starting next February that we’re excited for. We’re gonna be kicking that off at CKUD in Barcelona which we’re also excited to be a part of. We’ve got more in the works and hopefully we can announce them soon!
As we close the interview, is there anything we didn’t address you’d like to talk about or any shout outs you’d like to give?
Thank you Convulse family for everything and always letting us do what we wanna do. If you haven’t checked them out, make sure to listen to Destiny Bond. Check out Hate Training which is now out on all streaming services.
Listen to Palestinian voices, lift them up, check in with your Palestinian and Middle Eastern friends. If you hear people being Islamophobic, shut that down immediately. If you hear people being anti-Semitic, you shut that down immediately. Keep that conversation active in your community, pressure your representatives to demand a crease fire and an end for occupation.
Free Palestine, forever and always.
