if you have any love for SXE youth crew sounding hardcore, Spark is a band you must check out. Read what they have to say here.
Why did you start Spark? Most of you are also active in other bands.
We started Spark, because we wanted to bring back the style of hardcore we fell in love with when we were teenagers in the 2000s. Meaning early-mid 2000s youth crew revival / modern hardcore bands like Carry On, In My Eyes, etc. Another reason is the fact that we love hanging out with each other and doing stuff together. A band is always a perfect “excuse” to spend time with each other despite busy schedules.
Is Spark a band with a fixed style and a fixed set of influences? If so, what would these be?
As said before, we are mainly influenced by 2000s youth crew revival / modern hardcore bands, so yeah, I guess that is our main sound. However, we’ve already written new songs for an upcoming record that draw influences from other stuff as well. To us it’s important that it stays interesting and exciting. We are not in this to release the same record over and over again. Thinking about it, it’s easiest to say we’ll probably always stay on the “faster”, punk side of hardcore.
You just came back from a tour together with Chain Reaction and Spirit Crusher. How did the tour go? Any funny or crazy tour stories?
It was just a short trip with three shows, but it was a great time for sure. Most of us have been friends before and we surely all became friends during the trip. No crazy stories. Just a good and wholesome time.
Spark is a Straight edge band. How important is this for Spark. In the lyrics to Youthful dreams it seems that you feel some irritation about people leaving all this behind.
Straight edge (sub-)consciously defines our lives every single day. It is a mindset we decided to live by for different reasons, since it’s a life choice every single person has to make individually. Be that mental strength, not letting your life turn to trash or just hating the feeling of losing control. Because of that importance, it was also a pretty natural and logical decision to label Spark as a “straight edge band”. However, that doesn’t mean all our songs are about that. In fact, only two songs address it. One of them is “Youthful Dreams”, a song that is about feeling bummed out when one of your friends “breaks edge” (I hate to phrase it like that… so corny…). BUT to be precise: It’s not about the fact that someone “disgraced” the “holiness” that is straight edge. I don’t give a damn about what someone else thinks of straight edge and/or if she/he uses the label. It’s more about the feeling of seeing a friend leave the “youthful” values behind you’ve shared before. Does that mean this person is “growing up”? Does that then mean that I have to “grow up” myself, whatever that means? Is it wrong and selfish to feel bummed out at all? A set of questions that troubles me the older I get and the more I see people come and go.
And this is pretty much the overall theme of Spark. It’s not straight edge, it’s confronting yourself with troubling questions and issues. Trying to find answers and solutions to become a better person in the end.
When I read the lyrics to Culture of decay, I get the impression this is about the current “hardcore” bands that think they are Mötley Crüe. All they care about is moshing, drinking, drugs and having a good time. Is that correct? Or did I misunderstood this song? Care to elaborate?
“Culture of Decay” is not really about the hardcore scene. In fact I don’t care if someone does drugs or drinks if that makes said person happy. I am not now or ever be in the position to judge. The word “judge” is a great way to explain the song though: “Culture of Decay” is pretty much about people that DO judge other people’s life choices. I wrote the lyrics from the perspective of a hardcore kid becoming straight edge with not a lot of straight edge people around me in the beginning. The stupid conversations you have, the corny jokes you hear and what not. I get it. You change drastically by becoming straight edge and that does irritate the people around you for sure. I can’t even blame them. Once I read an interview with Greg Bennick (I think it was him…) in which he said that becoming straight edge was a great way to find out who your true friends are. This couldn’t be more accurate.
What is the song Revenge about?
“Revenge” is about two members of my family who chose selfishness over family bonds. The outcome was a lot of hurt and hatred.
Based on some of your songs, it looks like you are on a constant quest to become the best version of yourself? Is this true? What drives you in this? Do you feel it is important to write about this in songs like What used to be, The beast, Freedom and Perfection. Do you hope others get some meaning out of this, or do you just want to release yourself?
Yeah, Spark is pretty much about that. It’s about confronting yourself with the questions, problems and issues you have, to (at least try to) solve them. The eventual goal is to become a better version of yourself. Of course my lyrics are a way to try to clean up the mess in my head, but if I can help other people to ask the right questions about themselves and eventually find answers to those, I’m more than happy I could give the right impulses.
If it is not to personal, would you like to elaborate a bit on the song My reality?
“My Reality” is about doing everything you can to help a person that suffers from mental health problems and depression, even though it might be hard and you might feel hopeless at times. I do not raise the claim to know how to solve other peoples issues. However, I do believe that the right conversations can help people to get better. So listen to your friends’ problems and issues, even though they might be “small” from your perspective. What might be nothing to you can be a heavy rock to some other person.
You are going to play one of the Have heart reunion shows. These shows sold out in mere minutes, yet when the same band toured Europe under the name Free they played very small shows. How come the Hardcore in Europe has become such a nostalgia genre. In my area I see almost no new faces and even the new bands are mostly with old scene veterans in them. What should happen to give hardcore a boost again? How is this in your area.
I see the problem you are talking about. Less and less actual young people come to shows and participate in the scene. This fucking sucks. However, young kids DO exist haha. Maybe we have to just open our “precious” scene to them a little bit more. A good start would be not judging a kid that wears a mall metal shirt at the age of 16. Supporting a local something-core band, just for the sake of supporting actual young people doing things. Not claiming hardcore just for yourself and your “old” friends. Accepting the fact that a kid that is 10 years younger than you might define hardcore in a different way than you do, that she/he does not like the Cro-Mags – and that’s fucking alright. Just some random thoughts, but I think an overall problem of the worldwide hardcore scene is an elitist scene snob mentality.
What does the future have in store for Spark?
Playing shows, meeting new people, eating a lot of good food and writing a new record.
Prophecy 