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Track By Track: Sick Of It All ‘Nonstop’

New York hardcore legend Lou Koller talks Rock Sound through Sick Of It All's new/old album 'Nonstop', out next week through Century Media.

01. Clobberin’ Time
"This was one of the many songs we wrote by just messing around. Richie, our bass player at the time, just started playing the intro and then Pete [Koller, guitar] and Armand [Majidi, drums] joined in. They just followed one another building into a frenzy til they couldn't continue anymore. As soon as they ended I said "do it again" and and right at the height of the build up after the intro I yelled "It's Clobberin' Time", taken of course from the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing of Fantastic Four fame, and that was it. We knew it didn't need anything else, it was what it was. The match to light the fuse and get the people to explode. All in just 59 seconds. To this day it still incites just that reaction."

02. Injustice System!
"This was written about an incident that happen to us when we played upstate New York. Our set was done and we were loading out and watching Murphy's Law when a fight between two guys became a full blown riot, which spilled from the club into the streets. Of course the cops were called and they seemed to single out all of the people from NYC. While this is going on Pete was putting his amp in the back of the van not knowing why people are running and screaming or not caring why. A cop runs up to him with his baton raised and all Pete did was block him from hitting him, three other cops show up and arrested him for assaulting a police officer. Pete and two other friends (Minus from Merauder and Jason the singer of Krackdown) were held for three days with out phone calls or anyone being allowed to see or speak to them. It was small town justice. The cop claimed Pete broke his wrist. None of the locals went to jail. We ended up getting the case dropped against Pete and everyone else but it cost us and our families lots of money. There was an amazing benefit at CBGB's that helped with that though! That was what inspired the lyrics of the song."

03. Sanctuary
"This is one of my favorite songs we every wrote. It's one of those that when Pete gave me the tape with the music on it, the lyrics just flowed. Yeah it was more melodic than the usual Sick Of It All song, but it still had our feel. And even though it's been used for so many proposals on stage, played at weddings and the chorus was even written down the side of a wedding cake, it was not about a girl. It was about the one constant in my life at that time. Hardcore music. Yes as cheesy as it sounds its a love song about hardcore. Ha."

04. Scratch The Surface
"Picture this, you're from a scene that (at the time) frowns on anything mainstream and your offered a deal with a major label. There was a lot of speculating about what we were gonna do. Mostly they all thought we were going to come out sounding like Green Day. This was our answer. We took what we learned from the first two records and went darker and angrier. It also was the first record where we all wrote together. Pete wrote this monster of a piece, it was a little different than our thrash and burn stuff but it was heavy and grooved in that NY style. As for the lyrics, I was stumped, maybe even intimidated cause the music was so powerful to me. Luckly Armand wasn't, he was inspired! Now this wasn't the first time he wrote lyrics for the band but he knocked it out of the park with this. Maybe it was his reaction to all the naysayers in the scene or just the plastic people that were shoved down our throats in the media everyday (like today), whatever, it made the song a classic!"

05. Us Vs. Them
"This one was Armand's baby. We had such a great reaction to 'Step Down' on our previous album 'Scratch The Surface' that we decided to try another. Great bouncy, catchy riffs that needed equally catchy lyrics. Once again Armand stepped up and reflected upon our two years of touring off of Scratch and all the far off places we played and how our fans were more like friends and looked out for us in some dire situations. When we put it all together we still felt it was missing something. So I said lets throw some whoa whoas in there and I think Pete added the hey heys. We did get some criticism from some friends who said why not just say "Oi Oi" in those parts but we went with the whoa whoas. And now it's one of our most popular songs. Which made it hard to redo, but we've been playing it very different live now for years and this new version is more like that with some new added stuff too (don't worry, it's not keyboards)."

06. The Deal
"One of my favorites from our first album! My lyrical reaction to the fake uber-positive unity bands that were around then. The ones that would look down their noses at other bands who didn't share the same outlook. This song also has one of my favorite old school breakdowns in it. Only we called them "dance parts" back then ha. I'm very proud of the line "I ain't saying I got a master plan and I'm not telling you to go out and hold each others hands", I was channeling Paul from Sheer Terror when I wrote that! I love this new version even more than the original!"

07. Just Look Around
"Killer track! That creepy get-down-low bassline, the heavy chorus, it all came together so naturally. Pete came in with this one and it blew me away. I knew the lyrics had to be powerful and in NYC there were riots going on in an area called Washington Heights between the Jewish community and the African American community. And in my naive mind I was like "man it's 1992 why can't these people put aside their differences already?" What really burned my ass were the people who knew about the trouble and didn't care cause it didn't affect them, it wasn't happening in their area. All this fueled my focus to write lyrics about what was going on in our city and the apathy of some of it's citizens. I love this song, it gets the dance floor moving and the heads bobbing! Sadly the lyrics are still relevant today."

08. Ratpack
"This is classic early SOIA; fast, angry, brutal and to the point. Written about the mob mentality when a fight would break out at shows. Calling out the cowards. With a chorus written by one Craig Ahead long before he was in the band! This is another one that still gets played today. So we did this amped up version to show everyone what it's about!"

09. World Full Of Hate
"I remember reading reviews in punk fanzines that were saying how metal we were and this song was always brought up. Is it heavy? Fuck yeah it's heavy! This was Hatebreed before there was a Hatebreed! But was it metal? Who cares! This is a skull crusher. I love the way it begins with just Pete before it all kicks off into chaos. Hey, we all love metal and we were listening to bands like Venom, Celtic Frost and of course Black Sabbath and this is what came out. Lyrically the title says it all. My teen angst about hating the world put to music. With the great chorus where the crowd gets to yell "Full of hate!" What's not to like? This version is the way it should sound, guitars heavy as hell, monster drums and bass, and me finally doing the vocals the way they should have been done!"

10. Pushed Too Far
"Another from our first album done the way it was supposed to sound! This was my anthem for all the outcasts and freaks to stick up for ourselves and fight the outside world. But it got branded a tough guy song about loving violence and fighting. Which is funny cause I weighed about 90 pounds when I wrote the lyrics. Ha ha."

11. GI Joe Headstomp
"This is an awesome song! We all loved this band from New Jersey called Adrenaline O.D. and they had an instrumental on one of their albums called 'A.O.D. vs Godzilla'. We always wanted an instrumental like that, one that could move the crowd. At first I did write lyrics for it. I really don't remember what they were, probably me being mad at the world or something, but we all knew this one was our 'vs Godzilla'. The name however is a weird story; there was a cable access show called the Uncle Floyd Show (youtube it, the Misfits played on it so did Agnostic Front), it was low budget and they had tons of insane characters and one was just an old G.I. Joe doll head on a stick. I think Armand said we should call it 'G.I. Joe Head' and our friend Dave who was the first drummer before we recorded anything said G.I.Joe Headstomp! And that was that."

12. Never Measure Up
"This is a runaway train, fast and powerful! Our attempt at sounding like Motorhead. I always thought people would like it more if we had a breakdown in there, but we didn't want one in every song. Ironically that's what everyone else likes. I remember when we were on tour in Germany just before we went to record the 'Just Look Around' album and at the last show we played forever the people wouldn't let us leave the stage. Really...we had to go through the crowd to get off. So we did the set a second time and we were running out of songs, so we played them some of the new ones off 'Just Look Around' even though not all of them had lyrics yet. Hey the Germans loved it!"

13. Chip Away
"Another classic that has gotten lost over the years. Pete wrote this one and again, not typical SOIA, but he had been writing songs for the first H2O album so maybe that's why this was more in a 7 Seconds kind of vein. Again, one of the songs that when I heard the music, the lyrics just came so naturally. These lyrics are very straight from the heart. We were being looked at as an older band in the scene already and I just thought of all our friends and all we did and tried to do. The young bands showing so much heart and potential. I thought what if we don't continue after this album, what would I want to say to everyone. So here it is. Play this at my viking funeral as the boat burns into the sea."

14. Busted
"Craig's shining moment! Craig [Setari, bass] loves old school insane hardcore. Fast, jerky with an breakdown, like early '82 style from New Jersey. And this is his tribute to it. We were trying to find ways to spice up the albums. Not just me screaming in every song. Problem is I don't really do anything but scream. So when Craig brought this one in, music and lyrics, we said why don't you sing it too. Another staple of our live set since it's creation."

15. Locomotive
"I've always loved the Cro-Mags 'Age Of Quarrel' album. Who doesn't? But I loved how each song had a different pace or energy but it still had that NYC groove to it (All Hail Mackie!). One of my favorites was the song 'Face The Facts'. The groove in that song gets me in the pit every time. So I asked Pete to come up with a similar riff. He brought me 'Locomotive'. Again once I heard it the lyrics were easy, I was working some shit mailroom job and we would be doing weekend shows to great crowds. But after driving back on a Sunday night, putting all the equipment and stuff in my parents basement, then driving to return the rented van we'd get to bed at four am and have to be up at six for work on Monday. I also realized that the money I was making at work was paying for me to get to and from work and not much else! So these lyrics are my salute to all the worker bees in this world. Get out before it's too late!"

16. My Life
"First song we ever wrote. Teenage rage, letting the world and mom and dad know I'm my own person! Still one of our most popular songs. We used to rent a practice space and the guys who ran it were kind of dicks. Always worried we were gonna break the equipment and stuff. So whenever they would come in and tell us we had five minutes left we would have someone lean against the door after the guy went back out. Then we played 'My Life' and trashed the room. Then with the room full of feedback cause we had thrown all the amps and microphones into the drums we would straighten everything and finish the song. Guess they were right and we were the dicks."

17. Friends Like You
"An Oi influenced song and we didn't even realize it. Pete wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics. I din't know where they came from, I don't remember being stabbed in the back at that point. But it did make a good song."

18. Relentless
"Love this one. Very overlooked. I love it when Pete comes in with these brutal heavy songs that don't sound like every other band that's out there at the time. Then we all get together work on the arrangement and and how we think it should be played. Armand came up with the lyrics that fit the music perfectly. I remember opening with this in NYC and it was total mayhem. But then a few years later it didn't get that reaction anymore. Maybe this will remind everyone what a powerful number this is."

19. No Labels
"I wish one of the other guys could talk about this one cause I'm not a big fan of it, ha. Don't get me wrong it's a good old school NYHC song. But I think there were so many other songs we could have recored before doing this one ('Politics' or 'We Stand Alone' etc.). Anyway, once again Pete wrote the music I wrote the lyrics. And again a kind of fuck you to the positive but closed-minded bands in the scene at the time. It's a good song like I said, I just don't understand why the other three guys love it so much. Maybe just to get to me ha ha ha."

20. Built To Last
"A slightly updated version of another classic. More raw, more heavy than the original the way we play it live. This was a case of me coming up with lyrics but they just weren't there. The concept was there but the actual words didn't flow. So in stepped Armand. He has a great knack for fixing some of my lyrics that don't quite cut it. He returned the next day with the perfect lyrics and the rest is history. It wasn't the first time he's saved one of our songs and it wont be the last."