Interview with HR of the Bad Brains

From Forced Exposure 2

The Bad Brains came back to Boston on May 1 for three shows at Mavericks/Mcnasty's. As you may know already the Brains no longer exist they have changed their name to ZION TRAIN and will play strictly reggae music from now on. They will add two new vocalists, Ras Ray and Ras Freba and there will be other additions as well (possibly another guitarist, a horn section, and female backup singers), H.R. will move to bass and percussion(?).

I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened but I find it very depressing. Ever since I first saw the Brains at Irving Plaza over a year ago opening for Black Flag, they've been my favorite band of all time. The loudest, fastest, and most energetic band anywhere... To me this changeover to Zion Train is a massive mistake. The Brains had the ability to transcend any barriers, and to be able to reach people more effectively than anyone else. As a reggae band they may be able to gain a larger audience in numbers but it is useless to preach to the converted... The Bad Brains were an immensely important band. Zion Train will never mean anything.

The following interview with H.R. took place after the first show at McNasty's, also present was Minishred. I don't agree with a lot of what H.R. had to say but I feel it's impotant his views be known.

MS) So I hear you're going reggae...
HR) Totally.

K) Are you sorry you made these dates as the Bad Brains?
HR) Nope, I have no regrets whatsoever.

J) What made you decide to change now?
HR) Jah.

J) Do you think you'll miss the energy? The energy in Reggae is much more controlled.
HR) No I won't miss it.

J) So how did the West Coast go?
HR) It was alright.

MS) So what is the new name going to be?
HR) Zion Train.

MS) Is there meaning behind that?
HR) Totally. It is self explanatory, Zion is the Kingdom of God, Train is something that everybody rides on together, all the people going to the Kingdom of God, but of course Zion means Israel so alot of people are going to go there. Many will be called, few will be chosen.

MS) So when is the Bad Brains compilation going to come out?
HR) Hopefully in a couple more months. We're going to finish it next week, and go out to California and send it to be pressed. It's got about 20 something bands on it.

J) What about all the other projects, I heard there are supposed to be alot of other things coming out on your label.
HR) After that we want to put out an EP of the Bad Brains and than a couple of singles of some bands.

MS) Are you going to record any reggae groups?
HR) Only Jah know.

K) That was pretty wild the way you just bopped in like that last night at Mavericks. What happened?
HR) Yeah we were late cause we had to do a parade in NY, when we finished the parade traffic was so jammed. That's why we were late.

J) And then back to NY and that's the end of the Bad Brains right?
HR) No no we've got a couple more gigs and got some out in California and some in NY.

K) Do you think A7 has done a lot for that scene in NY?
HR) No.

K) Tell us about it.
HR) Because A7 rips off bands, he underpays them, I'll tell you who has helped the scene--CBGBs, CBGBs was there and they still will book bands and pay them.

K) So you really think the future is in youth?
HR) Oh gosh yes. We're the only ones, cause our folks are already gone you know, but we're going to have to teach them, they're going to have to relearn from us because they've given up y'know, we got to help them now. It's true.

MS) How do you think all the kids can come together?
HR) Under the power of God. See we've all got to start thinking as one, beleiving in one main thing working for that one goal, working for one goal it'a really hard because you see what you have to do is face reality and work, and alot of people do not want to face reality and alot of people do not want to work.

J) What can each person do to start the revolution?
HR) Well the first thing is you've got to start with yourself. It's got to start from a consciousness seeking an awareness. They have to start going and leaving Babylon behind. If you don't want to deal with Babylon that means you can't deal with none of it--their food, their alcohol, none of it, you have to leave it all behind and you've got to start thinking and living and doing everything different than what Babylon would. Umm another thing people can do is start moving in a more positive direction. Like OK, instead of drinking sodas or CocaCola, get yourself an orange juice or some water y'know? Cause the government has little tools and little things out here to kill us off little by little, control our minds. We don't know what's in those foods. They're so preserved and so artificial and so chemicalized that you don't know how they could be controlling us, man. I mean, it's really wild. Another thing is people have to start considering God as somebody that's real...You can't find God from nobody else. The only way you're going to find him is from yourself, and you've got to go inside and that's it period. God ain't on no cross, he ain't no picture on no wall. He ain't no little Saint Christopher or Saint Mary. Burn that. You can't pray to them false gods...see Jah is in here. That is the only way you're going to reach him. What we all got to do is start thinking as one and we've got to unite under one banner and that banner is Jah, God in heaven now if you don't understand who Jah is, what you got to do is find out. Read, get books on Halie Sellasie, and then you'll understand. That's the only way. I can't show you, I can't make you believe. You got to seek and you shall find, true...

J) But then by changing to a reggae band aren't you chancing losing people?
HR) There is a risk, yea. The risk is alot of people might not like the transition and we could lose alot of our audience. However, when you are involved in something that you make a commitment with, you don't worry how many people are going to be there, who is going to come, or how ouch money you are going to make, or what you're going to lose. For when you make a commitment you've already gained every thing you've wanted. It takes devotion. Once we sight Jah we've made it. Once any one sight Rastafari, that's it, you've made it, you've graduated. That's right, you don't need nothing else, cause alot of people have all the things in the world and they don't have god and they're very unhappy. They've even got their false gods and they're still unhappy. Like a man called...let me show you a perfect example...uh Falwell yeah y'know he got all the money in the world, everything, but guess what he doesn't have? A friend in the world. Everybody uses him. They just a bunch of hypocrites, and he ain't happy. He so blood clot out of it it ain't even funny. Jah gonna lick him alright. He can't fool us, he can't fool the youth. The youth can see. We all grew up in this system. We just know the truth when we see it. We've seen so many con artists, we've seen so many gimmicks, we've been spit on, tricked, so many times by so many people who say yesyes--come, I'll cake you we'll be free. And then after they get what they went...goodbye y'know??

J) So playing so called "Hardcore" music is going against what Jeh wants you to do?
HR) No no not at all.

J) So then why are you stopping?
HR) Because we feel inside the only way we can give them what we want to give them is through Jah music.

J) So you're going to stay in NY and continue in basically the same way?
HR) No we're going to move to North Carolina.

J) What's in N. Carolina?
HR) Fresh air, alot of grass and a big open farm...We wanna build a recording studio and also a music co-op.

J) Do you have the money for that?
HR) Who needs money when you got people?
J) You still need some money.
HR) No you don't. You only need Jah, when you got Jah, mountains can be moved. When you've got prayers and the spirit of the Lord you don't need money. You don't need nothing but God, you can move, you can do anything with Jah. You don't need money, that's soft.

J) Will you still be playing out?
HR) Yes. We will be on tour we use money, we can't help but to use it, but I'm telling you, you don't need it. People got to start taking care of their bodies because of all these bacteria agents and chemical warfare we're up against...the Bible shows that only the strongest of the strongest are going to survive, see...

J) So its necessary to totally move out of the cities?
HR) Oh, totally, everyone got to get out and move back to the land...cities are Babylon. Yeah, they are going to fall totally to the ground, the whole nation is through.

K) So you're preparing, you're going to a survivalist?
HR) That's it!

K) But there are a lot of survivalists out there with who are moving to the country with arsenals of weapons...
HR) OK, those people are running scared. They are not facing reality, see, a lot of people think they can run away from Jah and run away from the destruction of the world. You can't run away from it. Rastaman isn't running from nothing. We are the warning. We ain't running from nothing. We going to rebuild a new Jerusalem, a new country, a new system, a new nation. Reunite the old family. We already got out government. Our government is the Bible. We already got our political system. Our political system is God. He already gave us laws, statutes, doctrines. We already got it all written out in the Bible all you got to do is live by it. But people want to pick up their own government.

J) So was everyone in the band happy with the decision or what?
HR) All of us are together in it.

J) Was this like recent or...?
HR) No, no gradually, but it's been building.

J) When was the final decision made?
HR) Gosh. I couldn't tell you. I guess the final decision was made about a couple months ago, halfway through the tour when we went out to California and we saw all the faggots and we went to Texas and seen all the punk rock bands. Out there the in thing was being gay and all the hardcore bands were gay. That was the last straw, I couldn't take no more. I had to say somebody got to go out there and show the youth the truth, man.

J) Did you run into any trouble, like people didn't know what to expect from you?
HR) Uhuh. When we played in Florida they closed us down in West Palm Beach. They didn't know what to expect and the guy pulled the plug on us and said he wants us to pay for a microphone in the middle of the set (laughs). We say ok, we'll pay for it, but give us til after the set. (mimics in a booming voice) "No, I want it now." So we kept on playing without the PA and then the cops came in and said, dig this, "If you do not stop playing we are going to beat up all the bald-headed people. (laughter)

J) Did that happen anywhere else on the trip?
HR) Umhuh. The cops closed down our gig in California at the Ukrainian festival. We played but they came in and took out over third of the audience. Our gig got closed in Reno, the cops busted that up. We didn't get to play in N. Carolina at a place called the Big Bad Wolf. You couldn't wear sneakers, a leather jacket, a tank shirt cut off, you couldn't come into the club with jeans, you couldn't come into the club with...

J) What could you come into the club with? (laughter)
HR) I mean this place was so oppressive it's not funny.

J) Where was this again?
HR) In N. Carolina--where we are going down to live cause they need work. Raleigh, OK after the set started I came up and said to the audience, "You know it's really a shame that people can't come to clubs and wear what they want," period that's it. After the set the owner is looking for me with bats and his henchmen. Four or five big fat henchmens with billy clubs and saying (mimics) "Where is the lead singer, we want to break his neck, he embarrassed us."

J) So why N. Carolina instead of say, Oklahoma? There is a lot of countryside out there.
HR) Because I like the vibrations out there.

K) How did it affect you to get on the cover of New York Rocker?
J) The fact that you'd been playing around NY for two years and they finally realized who you were...
HR) Put it there! Now all of a sudden woowoo, Bad Brains! Me and my friend, Henry, when we seen it I just said, well--here it goes, they're going to try and exploit me now. I looked at it for a while and I thought about it and I said, well I can look at it two ways, I can give up and say my soul has sold out, I'm commercialized now, I'm on The Market or I can do what I been doing and just use it to help me--use it to spread the message. At least people know what I look like now. So when they see some where maybe they'll stop me and ask me something and I'll help them. If no one knew what I looked they might just keep on walking by me and never know who I was.

J) How long will the Revolution you want take?
HR) The way I see it Babylon doesn't have many more years. The Bible says the end is near at hand and no man will know the exact hour. However, Jah says he will give us warnings and signs when the end will come. From the signs I've interpreted on my own, ok. this is my own belief, my own vibrations, I feel that within the next four years there is going to be a dramatic change in the government

J) What will that lead to?
HR) That will lead to the Revolution, the breaking point that will lead into the revolution.

J) What kind of changes?
HR) Political changes, sociological changes, religious changes, cultural changes. There is going to be a Cultural Revolution, the government is going to say.

K) When this happens you don't think people aren't too stupid to just accept it? I meet a lot of stupid people.
HR) OK, now you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. There will be a congregation of real, true Christians who will grow in number and these people will become mighty and powerful. And they're going to be young youths who believe in the truth. Who are gonna be strong. There's gonna be a new breed of youths, a revelation that belongs only to God. Now these youths are going to be unconquerable, they won't need guns; they are gonna do magnificent things. They're gonna do monumental things people have never seen before. These are gonna be the ones that tremble and quake this country and they're gonna be mighty. They're defenses are gonna be Jah, and their strength and power in their numbers. See they're gonna be many, many, many and they'll be just too strong and powerful, and that's when Babylon going to quake.

MS) And that's the big take over.
HR) Yeah. Little by little it's happening right now when these people unite, when Israel reunites we are gonna, I and I, are going to demand certain things of Ronald Reagan, or whoever is president at the time.

J) Hopefully he'll be gone by then...
HR) All we want is justice, which means we want to be free. How we are going to demand this from the president. What we want is ships and a free ride out of the United States to Africa, that's what we want. That's what we are going to demand from the President. He's going to give it to us sooner or later. Let those who want to go, go free. Because most of those that want to go can't afford to right? They can't afford to, they can't leave their jobs, they can't support their families y'know? They can't afford it but if they had a ticket, a free ticket, plus food and a place to stay when they reach Africa...Jah will set it up for us, then I and I will be ready to go. You would be surprised how many people would leave so quick knowing that they're going to build a new system. And all those that want to stay, let them stay! We don't have to make them go, do we? Not if they want to stay. I don't know the bloodclot for, but let them stay...yeah.

J) Have you been to Africa before?
HR) I've not been to Africa physically, yet spiritually I have been there many times. That's what we will demand from Ronald Reagan and that's when the Revolution will come...and I and I reunite and leave Babylon.

NOTE FROM FORCED EXPOSURE 4: ...one point about our policy towards interviews which some people have had misconceptions about. We interview bands that we like and that are important, and give them the chance to express their ideas...by no means does this that we totally agree with and promote each statement by each band...a case in point would be the Bad Brains interview in #2. Musically, they're probably the best band I've ever seen, but their Rastafarian Rap is pure shit. I'm hardly waiting for my free boat to Africa from Reagan (as H.R. suggests) and I hope you're not either, but at the time I felt that it was crucial (just kidding) that people understand them and their reasons for thinking about changing into Zion Train (something that has yet to happen so that they can cash in on another "farewell tour")...