Interview With Give Praise Records’ Paul Sunderland

"Give Praise really works towards putting out a lot of releases from hard-working bands involved in powerviolence, grind, punk rock," label founder, powerviolence purveyor and one-man show Paul Sunderland told Noisecreep. So if you like bubbling under, extreme, 'sub-genre' metal, then Give Praise should turn your head. If you've not yet heard of the label, you can thank us later for exposing you to their impressive roster.



Give us the rundown on Give Praise.

We've been around for five years now and have pretty much stayed with the same way of doing things, since day one. Give Praise is a one-person operation and that's how I like to keep it. I enjoy working with the new bands and also being able to travel a bit, go to festivals and set-up the Give Praise table and say hi to everyone! Give Praise started off as a strictly powerviolence, fastcore label but has moved onto more punk rock, grind, hardcore and even bands with tinges of metal. We release a lot of seven-inches, since a lot of bands find that the perfect fit but have also been doing more CDs and LPs.

Tell us about your recent releases.

Recently, we released a seven-inch from Guns 'N Rosa Parks, a straight-forward, old school hardcore band from Colorado. They are mean and angry. Also, we put out a seven-inch from Flat Out. They have since disbanded but they were a great fast hardcore band with some mosh flare from California! This summer, we have releases planned for Deep S---, a band from Wisconsin. They are really good Westbay-influenced fastcore, similar to bands like Plutocracy and Spazz. We also have a release coming from Murder-Suicide Pact, an old school hardcore punk rock band from Florida who are getting together for the first time in years to record new stuff. BruceXCampbell will also be doing stuff with us; they are a horror-inspired grindcore band! We have titles in the works for Apartment 213, Masochrist, No Mans Slave, Brody's Militia, Thrak, and I'm sure there will be more!

Do you have criteria for what you choose to release?

We really don't have a certain criteria ... maybe we used to. Basically I really love powerviolence, grind and fastcore bands, so I usually look for that kind of sound. But we have started working with all kind of bands like For the Worse, which is totally more on the straight punk rock feel and Brody's Militia, who at points, combine rock 'n' roll with their thrashcore! I look for bands that are really into being in a band, bands that tour and promote themselves. I really like when a band has an opinion on their cover art or their promotional fliers, as opposed to bands that say, 'Oh whatever looks good!' I need to have their advice on some things, since that ultimately helps get the band's name out there Give Praise has lodged itself into becoming more of a label that focuses on fastcore and powerviolence, as oppose to straight-forward punk rock, so I kind of think that is what people expect when they see the Give Praise tag, but I like to keep all of the venues open!

You do skateboard design too?

I do Burial Ground skateboards, which is the skateboard division of Give Praise. I have always loved skateboarding. Unfortunately, my body was not built for it, and as the years went on, I got worse when everyone else seemed to be getting better. I felt this was one solid way I could stay into skateboarding.

I think this is a really good way to promote a band. It makes kind of a radical novelty item. Being that, even if you don't skateboard, you can still grab a cool graphic of a band you're into. Skateboarding has always been a big part of the hardcore scene, especially when it started.

What is your view on underground metal right now? Is it in a recession? Is it thriving?

Underground metal has always been a big and thriving scene. When you look through magazines like Terrorizer, you see it all over. Look at all the festivals: Maryland Deathfest, Chicago Apocalyptic Fest Obscene Extreme, Play Fast or Don't Fest. It just shows that people will always be into underground metal and punk, if there are this many festivals going on and people want to see the bands and buy the shirts and records from their tables.