The STDs: Addicted to Violence

Photography of the band and biography courtsey of Dot Lane.

Drugs and death. Sleaze and disease. A few of the reasons most rock bands can’t bang their way through an entire decade. Much to the astonishment, and most likely the repugnance, of the Little Rock , Arkansas music scene, the self-christened Murder Punk band, the STDs, are still spreading piss and blood in their 10th birth year, 2012. They are, however, not without damage from the fallout of a discordant lifestyle.  
“From the start,” the STDs cult-celebrated vocalist, J. Gray, expounds, “we have lost more band members to drugs than anything; people have OD'd, got too messed up on drugs to do it, wound up in the hospital, and some just got disgusted and quit for one reason or another.” Gray explains that one has to just keep pressing on no matter what sour chord life plays, “Shit, we had a band member OD on the road and roll his truck on the way to a show so we had to replace him that night; we only played 3 or 4 songs but we found a new guitar player. That’s life in the STD's. You just have to keep going.” 

Although a parade of scarred faces and burned-out minds has passed in and out of the STDs throughout the years, the poignantly destructive lead singer, Gray, has withstood Hell and High Waters mostly on his own.  It is perfectly okay, though, since he has always been the principal lyricist and composer for the band. Through his own admission, Gray can be quite a challenge to get on with. He’s even learned how to match egos with iron-willed scenester-oriented ex-band members, “I just learned that when you get someone who tries to force their own ideas or insinuate their own influences on your band, there’s only one way that will turn out…my way! If you don't like my band, don't fucking be in it. That’s the only way to preserve originality.” 

Gideon Godless was initially a STDs fan before joining the band as their most significant bassist. "The first time I saw the STDs, I guess I was around fifteen years old. My Mom and I lived in a somewhat artsy community. I remember hearing a band down the street practicing every couple of weeks. They had a rather blatant din, marked with screeching vocals and saturated fuzz-tones. I thought to myself, 'These guys suck, I should go jam with them.'  A few weeks later, on a random Tuesday, I heard the band again except this time they sounded considerably louder and closer to my home. As it turns out, these guys lived right next door to me; our only separation being an overgrown vacant lot.  I had to go check it out. My mom and I left the dinner table much to the dismay of my asshole Stepfather. Upon arrival, it became apparent that we had stepped into another world. There were hordes of drunken and dosed teens thrashing with adults way past their prime in this tiny backyard. The band was so loud you couldn’t even make out what they were playing…if they were even playing." 

Almost immediately, Gray became something of a legend to the young Godless, "…….what really stood out to me was the singer.  There was this guy, covered in blood, screaming his ass off about murder, drugs, rape, revenge…..now that was something I could really get down with. He had busted a bottle and was repeatedly stabbing himself in the forehead with it, while simultaneously brandishing the shank at the audience members. I was there for maybe ten or fifteen minutes when the cops showed up, party over." Even though Godless witnessed a limited STDs performance, it left a lasting impact and encouraged him to start his own band, "I was in awe, I thought 'this is the single greatest thing I’ve ever seen.'" 

The revolving door of musicians has been vexing on steadfast band members but it has not been without some rewards, Gray explains, “Sometimes I get sick of teaching the same fucking songs to new members over and over when half the time they only stay a show or two, but it has made me learn to play guitar pretty good.” Getting lovely ladies based on being in the band has not been part of the booty for the STDs, as poetically stated by Godless, "People are more hesitant to approach me in public." Godless feels he "has not really benefited from being in the band" but "I get free beer and infamy. And I get to sleep in the backseat of a car with three people." Godless seems to take the band's ill repute with a striking sense of humor, but his ideals haven’t changed much concerning the band, even though he is the bass player, "I still consider the STD’s my favorite band, I still consider J. a genius, and every time I don the stage I am living the dream of my fifteen-year-old self." 

2002, Park Street, Little Rock, Arkansas: The STDs formed on the heels of Gray’s quasi-successful band, The Destroyed, a guttural, nasty little band from the East Bay. “When we started, everyone just wanted to play old Destroyed songs and when I started writing new material it probably just naturally had some of the same aspects and ideas. I didn't intend on making a clone band,” states Gray. With a dose of rehashed Destroyed songs and a fistful of new STDs material, the band set out to annihilate everything and everyone in its scum-drenched path. 

By 2007, the band professionally recorded at Blackwater Studios in Cabot , Arkansas and subsequently released "the Filth EP" as a DIY project. The EP gained some notoriety for the band and they went on to sign with local Retro Virus Records in 2010. Within the same year, the band again headed to the recording studio (this time, Core Studios in Jonesboro). It was during this venture that the next album, aptly titled, "Byron Broke the Door," surfaced. The evening of the Ron Core session, Byron Blackout, whose name evidently derived from his uncanny ability to drink himself into a stupor, was offered, much to the apprehension of the band's close-knit circle, profuse amounts of rot-gut whiskey. Early morning found much of the band huddled in the studio proprietor's son's bed in a feeble attempt to ward off alcohol and frigid temperatures. It was a sleepless night though. Band members vomited their way across bedrooms and latent bodies. Blackout kept the majority of the house awake singing sordid drunken renditions of Nirvana songs.  In the midst of his pissed descent into drunken Hell, Blackout tore down the door to the vocal booth (which, incidentally, had once been a mere utility closet). Once again, the STDs had left a caustic stain in their departure. They were never to return to that studio again. However, the album, "We Fucking Hate You All," from the Core session, eventually made it's way to a cult audience. 
Over the past few years the line-up has been fairly rock solid with Gray remaining in the vox role, Blackout on guitar, and Godless on bass. There have been, however, few minor adjustments to accommodate jail-time (more specifically Blackout and Gray have recently spent time in the nick). This year, however, marks new ambitions for the STDS with the installation of a new drummer, T. Bag Barnett. Gray insinuates that this particular line-up may be paramount, “Line-ups always change your sound and people never play your shit exactly how you write it, that’s what forms an original sound. I think, with our present line-up, we sound more together and have a more powerful stage presence than ever before.” 
The STDs, now a well-oiled machine, plan to record a new album this spring at Blackwater Studios. The new album is apply titled, "Addicted to Violence." Certainly, the sound will be reminiscent of their dirty punk rock roots, and likely, will include influential testaments of Blackout’s metal origins and Godless’ garage swag.  Godless' eclectic taste in music has influenced not only his riffs but also his stage persona, "My bass playing, as well as my performance style, has been influenced by everything from 1950’s Rock ‘N Roll to pure Funk. I’m a tone freak and I think the right bass tone adds a lot to a band. A lot of 'punk' bassists rely on that horrid twang-tone, I am not a fan. I try to beef it up as much as possible, I like to rumble. I think that it builds a good foundation for the band....and really I’m just hoping to make some ears bleed." 

Gray knows he has the aptitude to assemble his band member's influences and produce a writhing novel of plot and sound, “I think this band is only still around because there has been a single driving force behind it all this time. Shit gets muddled and confused when you get too many people all pushing separate ideas and all those people are taking whatever drug you throw at them. I didn't really set out to run this band like a dictatorship but that’s probably the reason we haven't turned into some lame-ass parody of what we started out as. We’re not some drugged out pseudo-hippy trash noise piece of shit travesty band that does Black Flag covers just for the Greg Ginn solos....way too many of those around these days.” 
Gray contends that he has never let anyone change the direction of the band, though a few have tried, “I think I have been led to do a few covers I didn't really want to do or that I didn't think really worked with the STD's. I think one time we did a PIL cover....and maybe Sonic Youth.” The band has since more fittingly covered bands of a kindred nature, like the Dead Boys and Venom. 

The band, although Punk in roots, is far more than a basic three-chord quartet. Godless jokingly states, "We're not a three chord Punk band. We are more like a five chord Punk band." The STDs are not focused as much on technicalities but on conveyance of their outrages, dislikes, and disappointments. They are not concerned with being radio friendly (hence their anthem, "Smash Your Radio"). "We write for us, not for the audience. We don't want to Occupy, we don't want to get together at all," retorts a staid-faced Gray. Gray and Godless share a laugh when reminiscing advice from a fellow-gore band, Only Flesh, "Lay off the bad language and the sky's the limit." 

Throughout the years, one thing has changed very little: the vast majority of band supporters are male, and for faultless reasons. Aside from the obvious Southern Christian-bashing context, many of the STDs songs hit even harder below the Bible belt. During gigs, The STDs songs take on a wayward flight. Gray seems to antagonize his audience with rioting doggerels, and then almost always, fights ensue among a brood of Punk rock brutes. Gray muses about his inspired content, “I think our lyrics go hand in hand with the violence. They create the violence. The shows are just a vehicle for chaos and total self-indulgence and the lyrics scream ‘fuck you’ to our bosses and the fact that we even have to work. They scream ‘fuck the church, fuck God, fuck the cops, fuck your mom,’ whatever....I'm just throwing what the world gives me right the fuck back in it's face and if people get fucked up in that....I guess it means that they aren't joining in and are lame boring fucks who should have stayed in the back of the venue or at home.” Gray even offers some compassionate advice for the potential new STDs enthusiast, “If you don't like the music, don't come to the show, and if you want to be a boring pussy fuck, stay in the back where you belong. All the people that I want to communicate and commune with us will always be up front.” 

 

Violence may reign supreme with concrete STDs fans but much of Gray’s lyrical content rears contempt with feminists and the Politically Correct (in fact he wrote "PC Fuckers, Fuck Off" as an ode to these folks). A vast number of STDS songs bleed with an innate territorial structure, an attractively abusive misogynistic point of view. Few songwriters amass a sizable audience with odes that portray the fairer sex in a light of well-deserving aggression and brutality. Gray does not seem to mind or even care what his audience thinks or feels, or even if they show up to a gig. But when they do, he is simply there to confront them with words, and more often than not, with his mic, “The theme of the STD's has always been the same, chaos for no good reason, and self-indulgence. Mostly my self- indulgence when it comes to lyrical content and everyone in the bands' whims when we are onstage. The latter probably being the reason we are banned so much....I mean, we just try to throw out images and total disgust of what our lives are like and the things we have to deal with day to day.” 

Being banned "so much" is quite the understatement. Local STDs' shows are nearly obscure these days. Maybe there is too much of a good thing- too much blood, too much violence, too much pissing on cripples, too much cock exposure, too much gay and God bashing, or too much of Gray's pubic hair-pulling escapades. Many of the Little Rock venues have forbid the band from even stepping foot on stage primarily based on preposterous rumors and ill reputation. A few years ago, the Revolution Room, literally unplugged the band after an 8 minute performance. Apparently, beer was spilled on the venue's high-brow equipment and one of the band girlfriends hurled a glass at a rather boorish bouncer. A crowd of Punks wearing red STDs armbands evoked a menacing presence and a threat to safety, especially after Gray encouraged a near riot by getting STDs fans to ask for a return of their $10 admission fee.  Band members and girlfriends had to escape through the kitchen to flee the Segway-sashaying law. Later, the band discovered that one of the non-aggressive fans had been maced. One other time, Juanita's booked the STDs for a show at their illustrious Main Street location. The band sold a vast number of pre-sale tickets only to get an e-mail from the venue informing that the STDs were, indeed, banned and were not allowed to perform at the show two days away. The band had never even performed on the Juanita's stage. 

What motivates a band that is Hell-bent on continuing despite sometimes weak attendance at shows and non-existent interest with Little Rock 's right-wing media? Gray is able to evaluate his own psyche and arrive at the conclusion that, despite the negative outpour from the music scene's echelon, it is his expression of do-what-you-will anti-social behavior and resistance of the norm that brings peace to his gritty soul. He finds therapeutic solace from his songwriting and performances, “Most people don't blow off steam by cutting themselves, setting themselves on fire, or beating people in the face with mics and chairs, but I'm not most people and we aren't just any band. I really don't know how this thing has lasted all these years since I can't even take care of myself half the time. Dumb luck I guess?” 

Gray seems to project that it is his duty to bring about social awareness to the art of expressing oneself, no matter the cost. In late 2002 at a gig at Mr. Nelson BB-Q (now shut down by the local PD due to being a porn/prostitute/drug ring, in addition to minor level firearms dealing), Gray was set on fire by a female fan. Earlier that evening, Gray had asked the fan to ignite him after he doused himself with Everclear. During the set, Gray did indeed fully saturate himself with PGA but had second thoughts about igniting himself; however, the fan followed through with setting a lighter to his clothing. The situation burst out of control leaving Gray writhing in flames. Several fans sustained minor burns in an attempt to extinguish the fire. Gray was taken to the ER due to having second degree burns over 20-30% of his body (ropes of skin were coming off his arms and back as fans tried to get him to the hospital). Gray flat-lined twice and had to be induced into a coma as a result of the burns and shock. He was released from the hospital three days later due to lack of health insurance. Gray was back to performing with the STDs just a couple months after the incident. 

For a decade now, the STDs have brought their personal ambitions to an often confused and/or mortified audience by rather unconventional means. One could even describe the STDs' shows as a bloody hot mess. Gray concludes, “I think the band feels, as a whole, it hasn't been a successful show unless a few heads have been busted and some teeth rattled, but that shit always goes both ways. I have definitely received just as much as I have given over the years. This band is my life and I think all my present band members feel like that. This is what we do. We work and deal with life and all it's bullshit so we can do this. If I didn't have a band in my life I wouldn't be living too long.” 

Gray and Godless feel that success is not gauged by other's opinions and they will continue with the STDs until they day they die. Morbid thoughts for a band that likely deserves praise for being one of the only trad-Punk bands left. Godless states, "I don’t care so much about success in the traditional sense, we don’t do it for that. I judge success by the shows we play. If we reach a few like-minded people and meet some cool bands, I feel successful. We've already played with a few of our favorite bands, like Antiseen, Joe Buck, Fracas….I’d like to play with maybe The Dwarves or Fang. I’d be pretty content then.  I’d like to see more touring in the future, I think that’s doable. We have plans to record a new album, maybe get it pressed on vinyl. If we get signed that’s cool…if someone actually wants to pay us for this shit, I’ll take it. If not, they can screw…I don’t really care." 

2012 is speculated, by some, to be the final year our world stands as we know it. We despair over famine, natural disasters, and serial killers among God's children. For the STDs and their supporters, this is a time to revel in the chaos and the anarchy that is predestined to rise out of the ashes of societal normalcy.
-Dot Lane, 2012