R13 : So who are you and what do you do in Terror?
Doug Weber: Hi. I'm Doug and I play guitar in Terror.
R13 : And to the average hardcore fan who's unaware of your band, how would you describe yourself?
Doug: I'd say our sound is pretty much taking it back to the older 'New York' style hardcore, our influences as a band are Madball, Agnostic Front and bands similar to that.
R13 : With the release of 'One with the Underdogs' on Trustkill Records, A lot of fans believe that your sound has significantly progressed and slightly changed. Would you agree with that?
Doug:Yeah I think we deliberately had changed our sound a little, I mean 'Lowest of the Low' didn’t have so much groove in it and was pretty much fast all the way through. 'One with the Underdogs' there was certainly a lot more groove and breakdowns and stuff.
R13 : Did you want to evolve your music in order to create a trademark sound?
Doug: Not really I think the time between of 'Lowest of the Low' and 'One with the Underdogs' there were some line up changes were the biggest factor. I joined the band whilst 'Lowest of the Low' was being recorded but all the songs had already been written. Carl (bassist) was also another band member who was not in the band during the production of 'Lowest of the Low' so with the different member changes, I think different ideas from new members simply gave a newer sound.
R13 : Are you looking forward to your dates on the 'Sounds of the Underground' tour, any bands you are particularly looking forward to playing with?
Doug: Yeah it should be fun. I'm looking forward to playing with Lamb of God. I really like Lamb of God. All the bands that are on there I'm pretty much into, we've toured with before like Madball and Throwdown. But it should be good playing with them all again as well.
R13 : Will you be hoping to meet the members of Lamb of God?
Doug: Oh no, I've met them all before, just I'm looking forward to saying we've played with them. I mean I listen to their CD all the time so it'll be awesome to see them play a couple of live sets with us.
R13 : How many dates is that roughly on 'Sounds of the Underground'?
Doug: About two weeks roughly.
R13 : What do you think about Roadrunner taking over Trustkill. Do you personally see that as a good thing or a bad thing?
Doug: Honestly, I really don't know. This is our first European tour we've done with the record label. All our others have been self-funded and we haven't done a whole lot of shows yet. I mean the crowds reactions and stuff has been a whole lot the same in comparison to how it has been but I definitely think it's awesome that now cause of Roadrunner records you can actually walk in to most CD stores and find our record on the shelves whereas with 'Lowest of the Low' you simply couldn't do that. It's pretty much a good thing with advertisement as well cause you could be flicking through the pages of a magazine and find your CD on a Roadrunner advertisement.
R13 : When it comes down to the push and shove of the label, do Roadrunner tend to pick out the bigger bands?
Doug: Well in the mix, it tends to be we're lost in between the bigger bands, I know we're defiantly not a priority on the label
R13 : That's pretty understandable since Roadrunner is more of a 'mainstream' metal label rather than a label that is renowned for it's Hardcore music.
Doug: Yeah, well when you have a band like 'Slipknot' who sell records by the million and we're selling thousands of records. It's obviously who would be getting the push more. What we really need is for us to do a tour with a band that are a lot bigger than us. This is the 4th time we've come to Europe and every time we've come by ourselves and we're really playing to the same people every time we come. Playing with a bigger band would hopefully open our music up to people who have never heard of us before. I certainly think that Terror wins its fans with its live shows, not it's recordings.
R13 : When you moved from Bridge Nine to Trustkill for the latest record, did you get any stick from your fans?
Doug: Yeah we got a little bit of stick from the die-hard hardcore DIY Terror fans but in the end all the kids who did talk shit ended up buying the record anyway. I mean for the 5 kids who talked shit about us we're going to have our music exposed to 100 more people. Fuck the kids that talk shit, you know.
R13 : So what made you re-release 'Lowest of the Low'?
Doug: The reason we re-released it was because with bridge-Nine you couldn't find it anywhere but with this re-release on Trustkill, just like 'One with the Underdogs' you can pretty much go into any record store in the US and find it.
R13 : It was just for promotional reasons again
Doug: Yeah pretty much
R13 : So what do you think about the media and it's claim to the increasing amount of violence at Hardcore shows?
Doug: I wouldn't say it's increasing, I mean I think that now there is less then there ever has been. When I first started going to shows it was really violent. Hardcore is aggressive music. There's always going to be fights at shows, I'm not saying I agree with it but it's always going to be there. Hardcore sometimes brings out the aggression in people and there's always going to be people in fights and that's just how it is.
R13 : Some people condemn the bands, saying it's them who encourage violence at shows.
Doug: That's Bullshit, everyone's got a mind of their own and if someone if fighting because a band are playing they’re a fucking moron.
R13 : So do you personally support the Straight-Edge scene?
Doug: Yeah I am Straight Edge.
R13 : How long have you been Straight Edge?
Doug: About 8 years.
R13 : How did you become Straight Edge?
Doug: I used to party and stuff like that, Alcoholism runs in the family. My mum was in and out things when I was kid and when I was a little older I started getting into hardcore and that brought Straight-Edge to my attention and becoming Straight Edge was my way of defeating these alcohol problems that ran in my family.
R13 : Are Terror a straight edge band?
Doug: No not at all, I mean we all follow our own set of individual beliefs and diets.
R13 : Your not trying to force it on to other people?
Doug: I mean there are guys who do fucking drugs in Terror, there's Straight Edge, There's Vegan. We're pretty diverse and I think that's a really cool thing about Terror too. We're a really open minded band, I think that's a pretty important thing in Hardcore.
R13 : Did you hear about the incident somewhere in the US a month of two back where there was an incident involving straight edge people killing someone? After this incident the police in this county has condemned ‘Straight Edge’ as the name of a type of gang. What do you think about this?
Doug: Yeah I sort of heard about this but it's been like that for a while
R13 : Do you think this is the media hyping it up?
Doug: Yeah, blame it on the kids though just as much as the media, there's a load of stupid kids who associate themselves with Straight Edge and don't even know what the fuck it is. I mean there's stupid people all over the place but those are the kids that give 'Straight Edge' a bad name. But then again the media doesn't know any better. All they emphasize on is the bad shit nothing ever good.
R13 : So how are you finding it in England?
Doug: Umm this is the last show tonight out of four shows. It's been pretty awesome, certainly the best European tour we've done out of the 4 we've done previously I mean every time we come over it gets better and better. Slowly getting bigger and bigger.
R13 : What people most appreciate about your band is your image is not to have an image, your music takes priority. Do you agree that your 'anti-image' look ties in well with your music?
Doug: Image has nothing to do with hardcore, that's not what our musics about. We don’t look a specific way deliberately. With what your saying I mean I don't wake up even thinking 'Oh I'm in Terror, I've got to look normal' it's just we don't give a fuck what we look like, it's all about the music.
R13 : What do you think about those people who do take priority in their image?
Doug: I don't think fashion has anything to do with hardcore, I think they're pretty stupid.
R13 : What about people who come to your shows all dressed up for the gig, do you want to rid of them?
Doug: I don't really care what people do to come to our shows, if they want to look like that then that's fair enough. Spend two hours in the bathroom putting your mum's make up on.
R13 : What are plans for Terror in the future?
Doug: We're pretty much on tour until the end of the year, Record early 2006 and then come back over to Europe in Mid-March, get the record out in early summer.
R13 : Are there any bands coming out of California at the moment you recommend?
Doug: Yeah me, Karl and Nick all play in band called First Blood. we don't do too much cause of our commitments in Terror and there's a new band from San Francisco called Alcatraz.
R13 :Any last words?
Doug: Nope!
R13 : Thanks you for your time
Doug: Thank you- enjoy the show!