Featured Artist

I've been playing in bands for ages now...and the Challenged got started as an off shoot from my old band Panik Attack after we moved back to New York City.

 

 I was in a hardcore band from Brooklyn called SuckerPunch, then Panik Attack...Colin was in Vampires and Sluts from South Carolina...Mike was in Texas Clocktower Orchestra in Wisconsin, and he was also in a band with Joe from Against All Authority called On the Account. Please don't look up a lot of my older bands...you'll be pretty dissapointed.

We're basically just like any other punk/pop punk band...we play shows, try to write some good tunes and have a good time...I'd like to think we expand a little more on pop punk and encompass other stuff because I think all of the band members kinda have different backgrounds and we infuse it into the songs... 
 

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate just based on what I'm influenced by. I'm just like million of other Jr. highschool kids that we're influenced by Green Day in the early 90's and then I ended up buying most of the records of the bands on Lookout Records. I mean Screeching Weasel, the Mopes, Neil Diamond, and Sludgeworth are massive influences too. It's weird because when I was playing in a hardcore band in my teens, punk was so new to me and we we're playing with bands like the Casualties and Unseen, and I think those intense live shows (of crust punk bands, not Neil Diamond) kind of affected the way we play live...but the demo's and EP's we've done our straight forward 90's pop punk.

PS Neil Diamond is Colin's favorite entertainer...so just deal with it.
 

Nah...Jello wasn't on it...It was a kick ass show, y'know something that just gets embalmed in your memory. It's bad enough I never got to see them, but now we got to play a show with them. A lot of my friends we're denouncing them because of Jello's departure  (which is a reasonable argument) but there was a lot of energy there that night. It was great because we met some of the guys from DK and they we're real nice and their set was just tight as ever.

I see that you guys have played the Third Rail a bunch of times, is that place turning into the modern age CBGB's?  Actually, funny you say that...the draw there on punk shows was pretty weak..and it recently closed due to a lot of violence breaking out there. It used to be the legendary Hardcore/Metal club L'Amour...so I guess some of the violent stigma wasn't that far off. So I guess it has similarities to CBGBs... in that they both don't exist anymore. 
 

We recently played at Lit Lounge and that was a great time....tons of regulars coming by to drink and just a real cozy feeling to the place. We played Gilman Street last summer, and that was fucking amazing..so I'd love to play there when we tour California again.
 

We played a show in Kutztown Pennsylvania years ago, and there were kids in the pit riding around on toilet bowls with wheels... that was hilarious, but it was also convenient when we got diarheaa from a bunch of laced twinkies that day. 
 

We used to play shows in Northern Jersey, Ringwood I think, at some Cowboy bar (or at least it sure felt like one). 
 

We're currently not on a label, but we'll be working on a full length that should have a lot of blood, sweat, and blood, so keep an eye out for it in the summer. 
 

Who's your favorite bands right now?
My favorite bands right now are Dead to Me, the Methadones, the Prozacs, Propagandhi, the Briggs, and Toys that Kill. 
 

Who writes your songs and how are you inspired to write them? 
Right now, we're all writing songs. The ones I write are just influenced by my day to day life...whether it's feelings I have toward the city I live in, or just observations on what's going on around me...the songs are not typical pop-punks songs about girls and sniffin' glue, not that we take ourselves so seriously, it's just stuff that doesn't affect me when it comes to writing lyrics or sitting down with a pen if something is on my mind or bothering me. 
 

I gotta say, when we play a show sometimes we're pretty serious and sometimes we're goofy as shit..depends on the mood and how many drinks we've had...no rituals yet, but we plan on starting animal sacrificing any day now. 
 

I love playing  "Relapse" because it's a new song, very fresh to us, and it has a lot of cool transitions that help get the veins popping out my neck...eat your heart out Neil Diamond.
 

If i'm not playing music then I'm probably listening to it...or drinking cough syrup...just kidding about the cough syrup, but not really. 
 

What is your evaluation of the current punk scene?
I'd have to say the punk scene in general is pretty weak and scattered..the pop punk scene in NY is tight as a rock and I've met a lot of cool bands recently...a lot of the pop punk bands have been playing together for years now so their shows are really awesome, but being that we're new to them and they're new to us- we haven't gotten a chance to play with most of them. I'd love for that to change. 
 

My influences are pretty standard and cliche, unfortunately, Ramones, Clash, Rancid, Stiff LIttle Fingers, Lookout Stuff like the Queers, Green Day, Screeching Weasel, Crimpshrine..a lot of old Fat stuff like Propagandhi and Good Riddance...oh and I love 7 Seconds.
 

Any bands you really want to do a show with and why?
I'd love to play with the Queers or the Methadones. Even a fat band like Dead to Me would be pretty awesome...but y'know what, I'd open for Neil Diamond if he asked.

Wildest ? Dead Kennedy's was pretty wild...we're gonna be playing with Smoke or Fire too. If we played with Clint Eastwood circa 1981, that would be pretty wild...especially if he played old Mexican War songs in a poncho (that was a joke, obviously we don't have a time maching to go back to 81).
What are your general thoughts on the world today?

hmm..take this with a grain of salt (and a shot of whiskey). I have a lot of personal politics that I don't really like to talk about in person (mainly cuz people generally don't give a shit) but globally I think the problem is that the US is not ready to deal with the fact that we probably won't be numero Uno anymore..we've been head honchos of the "world" for a century now and "times they are a changing." Unfortunately, Mr. Bush isn't really ready to deal with stuff like that...you should be concerned about your social security and the fact that if you're in New York City, your rent will go up faster than your paycheck. I've seen the city's skyline change in a matter of months...and why is it that real estate taxes are based on prices that most middle class people couldn't afford or even sell their homes for. Neil Diamond has said it before and he'll say it again, "Lady's and Gentleman, I'm Neil Diamond and you should be preparing for Class War." 
 

What's your favorite part of being in a band?
I love to play. Shouldn't that be anyone's favorite part. I like to have an outlet for my words, otherwise, I'd just be a really bad poet...and I hate poetry clubs, they're very poorly lit.

hahah...it's not hard to come up with a name like that. When we started we we're a Ramones-core band, so dumb names we're kind of a precedent...me and our first drummer, Mike, laughed when we came up with the Challenged. Plus, there's nothing wrong with Challenging people (to think) or feeling Challenged on an daily basis. It's got a double entendre if you think about it. Being that we're not very Ramones-esque these days. 
 

Shameless plug: keep an eye out for our full length by the end of the summer !!!!
 

I'd like to thank you Jonny for the interview...we really don't get much of these. Thanks anyone who picked up our record or shook our hand at a show. Thanks to Cabana 1 Records and Tim for putting us on an awesome compilation that you should check out. Thanks to former Challenged members, Mike Markewicz, Vin Venturella, Daryl Kelvasa, and Nicki Sick.