Isaac Golub (Chorus of Disapproval/A18) Interview

Andrew Jacobs, the king of kings, brings us an interview with Isaac Golub of Chorus of Disapproval and A18 (Amendment 18). I dont know how he gets these done so quickly, but hes really helping us out significantly. So big thanks to him for helping us out and for Isaac for doing the interview.


Your band A Chorus of Disapproval recently reunited to play the very successful first Hardcore Reunion benefit show at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California on 3/22/09 along with No For An Answer, a surprise performance by Carry Nation, Headfirst, Blackspot and ICE. How did Chorus become involved with playing this show?

Hartsfield mentioned there was going to be a local 'reunion show' that he was trying to get Outspoken on, that peaked my interest. Some of those dudes ended up not being interested in the show for whatever reason, and that was the last I heard of it for awhile. Then I went with Hartsfield to Ryan Langley's birthday party at Memphis in Costa Mesa, and I heard Dan O' talking to Mike about it and chimed in, "We will play if you are interested." Not that we were ever that popular but I just wanted to play since it was for a good cause, I would never be interested if it were a GB-YOT-GIVE US YOUR MONEY-TYPE-REUNION.

Did you expect there to be such a big and enthusiastic crowd (particularly for Chorus) at this show? Why or why not?

I knew we would shred, I'm not flexing ego right now but I just knew we would be solid and still pissed as hell. It's not hard to tell who's gone soft and who hasn't. We have always been able to make the crowd bounce, it's an energy exchange thing. I think we have a special place in a lot of people's hearts and for that I am forever grateful for the support.


A number of people (including you and Hardcore Reunion coordinator Mike Hartsfield) brought their very young children to the show. Were you at all worried or concerned for their safety as well as them being exposed to the rampant profanity that accompanies most hardcore shows?

I'm pretty sure Mike's daughter was gone after Ice so I don’t think that counts completely, but as for the other kids in attendance it's naive to think that children don't hear profanity everyday. If they say they don’t curse they are probably not being completely honest, and if they don’t they for sure have friends that do. As for their safety? I was not worried. My 12 year old was up front dishing out some serious dance floor justice!


You turn 40 this year and are still pretty involved in the hardcore scene. What is it about hardcore that has kept you involved in it for over 20 years?

I love it. I love what it used to stand for, I love what was and could have been. I loved giving and giving and giving with receiving little or nothing in return. It sounds sarcastic and bitter, I know, but it's not. It's a form of charity that is fun.


Chorus was one of a handful of bands who spearheaded the militant straight edge hardcore movement in the early '90s, a movement which continues to this day and has become more and more extreme over the years. What are your thoughts on this?

Well I never in a million years would have thought that when I coined the phrase 'The Militant Edge' it would have been taken for more than what it was, a personal statement. So you can imagine my surprise when the Earth Crisis' and other militant bands of the world became huge and kids were stabbing one another and blowing shit up. I was in certain terms ashamed for ever opening my big mouth. "I" was angry at society, "I" was angry at certain parental/peer lifestyle choices, "I" was angry at dead kids from my high school that drove drunk and quite frankly got what they deserved. Have I beat up drunks? Yes. Have I been confrontational to the point of violence? Yes. That was a long time ago, seems like a 100 years. Now I'm just not angry anymore, I'm pissed just not angry (if that makes sense). Will I still beat up a drunk? Yes, in a necessary situation. I will always be an asshole and confrontational, that's never going to change. It's just a matter of how or where I feel the need to direct it.

What are some of your favorite Chorus songs and why?

My favorite song is Downslide because to me other than many A.18 songs it is lyrically one of the best written songs I have ever penned. It's haunting and metaphorically dark. I wrote it during a transitional phase in my life when things were very stormy, thus the weather-ish theme. I also love Leave You Behind because I wrote that song at the age of 14 (1984) just before I entered high school and within weeks of my father's death of a heroin overdose. My mother happened upon it on my desk one summer afternoon and asked, "did you write this?" I timidly replied in the affirmative. She simply said, "Um, wow. That is really good. You are wise beyond your years."


You formed Amendment Eighteen (A.18) in the late '90s. In what ways did A18 and Chorus differ?

A.18 at their peak were better and were very, very busy. We had a goal beyond glory or hype. In my opinion, A.18 was the most under-appreciated band in the United States. A.18 is a band I can listen to and completely separate myself from and forget my best friend is the guitar player. Whenever I hear Dear Furious, I think "Fuck these guys are really good!" And then I feel like a total tool for jamming my own band as loud as possible in my car.


What are some of your favorite A.18 songs and why?

Dear Furious, Stab You Through The Everything, Broke The Blue, Jailhouse Rob, Public Apology and Gravelines. I can't pick each of them apart, it would take forever because I can be so long winded. But I will say some of those songs were written in the 11th hour so to speak before recording. The frustration and stress of writing them well within a short period of time before recording made for some very good lyrics I think. I write metaphorically and sometimes with 'coded messages in slowed down songs' but that's how I do, I will not dumb down my lyrics for the sake of record sales. Fuck that.

You've toured the U.S. and overseas pretty extensively in both Chorus and A.18. Do you have any funny or interesting stories from the road that you'd like to share?

I had a Hare Krishna stalker in Berlin one time when The Chorus went. I talked to him a little at the show, and the next day he was at my hotel room with beads, literature, and ‘special’ donuts. It was creepy. I drew Frenchy Pierre type mustaches on all Lou from Sick of it All’s tour poster’s in Europe. They were 2 days behind us on that tour so I know he saw them. I’m gonna get beat down now. We broke a kid’s mom’s washer who was letting us stay at his house, then yelled at him that his mom’s shit sucked, then made him go door to door to his neighbors to find us a new washer to use. I broke into a locked refrigerator at a club and robbed them of all their chocolate milks after the promoter screwed us over. The old Rev van broke down in Iowa in the middle of nowhere and as soon as we open the van door, 7000 flies cruised in and owned the place. We played in a castle, a kindergarten room, an abandoned supermarket parking lot, an empty pool, plenty of garages, a ‘record store’ that only sold used cassettes, some place where Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, and The Doors played that was very much haunted, a basement at a steak restaurant, a junkyard. Sounds like we were dicks, and maybe we were sometimes but it’s boring to say, “We just wanted to play wherever and whenever, sell some merch and get our message out.” I think we did much more good than bad and I’m proud as fuck to have participated in those bands and regret nothing.


You've done a few side bands here and there. Discuss those.

What’s to tell really? I did a hip hop thing called Cointelpro in the vein of Rage Against The Machine or Spearhead, but better, with some guys from San Diego. We played with bands like Deftones, Sugar Ray, and the like. Two demos and almost a 3 record deal with Sony. I did Caste with Jason Hampton, Regis and PT. I think we were supposed to do an LP with Indecision but that didn’t happen. Here’s the thing with side bands I have done - I was really the only one serious because I wanted to play music as a career. I didn’t care about fame so much but I wanted to be a traveling salesman with music and a message.

As a writer, who or what are some of your primary influences and why?

I am the son of a hippy so you must understand, a lot of 60’s and 70’s writers turned my gears at an early age and stick with me today. There is no art in music anymore, the soul has been sucked dry. Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Roger Waters, Harry Nilsson, Otis Redding, and Joni Mitchell are some. Try to hold back your tears on Joni Mitchell’s ’Case of You’ and you will be hard pressed to keep from pouring over. Morrissey/Marr, O’Shea Jackson and Eric Wright are some prolific writers. Anything I think might make me want to fight, fuck, smoke a fool, cry like a baby or miss my loved ones are songs I can get with.


Feel free to shamelessly plug any of your current musical and/or non-musical endeavors that you feel like plugging here.

I have a serious solo hip hop thing in the works with some label interest on word of mouth alone and I’m doing an industrial goth thing that sorta sounds like The Clash of The Titans meets the Camelot soundtrack. Also, I am doing a new hardcore band with some… let’s say big name hardcore guys called Grasping At Straws, our LP will be called either Give It Up, It’s Just Sad Now. Or, Don’t You Think Your Plate Is Full Enough Already? That band will not do a Myspace or Facebook, so don’t bother looking. It will be a real band, not a over glorified excuse for one.