Tim Hackemack - HIT THE STAGE

Beneidest du die Bands, die heute mit einem Album berühmt werden?

Wir sind schon so lange im Van unterwegs. Wenn meine Kinder beschließen, Musiker zu werden, wünsche ich ihnen, dass sie so früh wie möglich in einen großen Tourbus steigen können. Ich bin nicht neidisch auf diese Bands, aber es ist mir wichtig, dass sie sich selbst treu bleiben. Viele Bands benutzen eine Szene oder eine Bewegung, um sofort ein Publikum zu erreichen, und dann sind sie weg, sobald sie sie nicht mehr brauchen. Sei ehrlich – das ist alles, was ich verlange.

You have been on tour for such a long time and you visit places like Germany twice each year. Does it ever get boring to you?

The shows are never boring. What’s better than playing your own songs and seeing all those people moshing and singing along? That’s always fun to me. If it wasn’t, I’d probably quit. There would be easier ways to make money. I love being in a band. What is bad is all the time you spend in between the shows. It’s the same every day and you need to find something to keep your mind busy. I guess we wouldn’t be touring Germany that much, if the people didn’t show up. So far, the crowds are always good, so there’s no need to change it.

Do you have a management that makes a business plan or have you done one yourself?

No, there has never been a plan or a management. M.A.D . is our booking agency and we trust them. They send us to play a venue and we go there. They know where we come from and know the places we should go. Of course, it’s always great if you sell out a venue or draw a bigger crowd, but none of this is planned.

How do you stay in shape to play these long tours at your age?

I stay in shape on tour. If I’m at home I don’t wanna do shit. Many times, I go on stage injured and when I have finished a tour, I just wanna rest and get the energy to do the next one. Then I go out and hurt it again.

So, you don’t do any kind of sports?

I practice Jiu Jitsu, have done it for the last four years. My whole family does it every day, but Jiu Jitsu is more rolling around on the floor and nothing as physical as running. But it has helped me anyway, I learned how to breathe even under pressure from it.

Do you still work when you’re at home?

Normally I do, but there have been times when I wasn’t able to, because I was touring so much.

You recorded a lot of albums, they made a movie about you and you wrote a book so far. Are there any more goals you would like to achieve?

We’ve had a lot of highpoints in our career, but it has been a rollercoaster ride. It’s important to me that we are good to people at all levels, because you might become big, but if you treat people like assholes on the way up, you will meet those people again when you go down. It’s never been a straight-up ride for Agnostic Front , but we’re okay with it. We come from the underground and that’s what we still love, but we know that success is a good thing and you need to learn to appreciate it while it lasts.

What’s the worst about touring for you?

The worst thing is always the first day. The first day is crazy, it’s the hardest of all, you still have so much preparation to do for the rest of the tour and it all needs to be done in a hurry. You still got all your stuff lying around and nothing is in order. But what’s really the worst thing is that I miss my family. That’s the hardest.

Did the new technology make it easier for you?

Yes, in some ways it did. I can see them, but I can’t kiss my daughter or my son goodnight. I love to do that, I hug and I kiss them and that is what I miss the most.

Have you ever thought about quitting the band?

Well, I have a wonderful family and my wife is very supportive of what I do. My kids know what I do and they know that when I come home I give them 100 % of my time. There was a point in my career where my daughter needed me a lot and she asked me to stop touring, so I stopped and I stayed around. Later I asked her if it was okay that I start touring again and she said: “Yes, of course!” Right now, everything is stable, but if that would change I would stop again, because my family is the most important thing to me.

So, you constantly live between two worlds?

Yes, normally it’s a really good mix between those two worlds, but the second half of 2019 we’ve been touring a lot and we recorded a new album. That’s been a little wild.

Do you write songs on tour? No, we usually do it at home. Who writes the songs?

We all do it together. Somebody comes up with an idea and then we work on it together and exchange ideas.

How long did it take to write your new album?

We took our time, so it almost took us a year. We went into the studio when we were finally satisfied with all the songs.

Does your label have any say in the decision which songs you use for the album?

No, they don’t. They leave all that up to us, the whole creative process. We just send them the finished product and they release it. I wouldn’t be comfortable with an interference like that. We’re the band, we write the songs.

Is there something you always have on tour, that you need to have with you?

Probably my breathing machine that I need to have with me, ’cause I have a sleeping disorder and other medical equipment. I have that with me since 2015. Besides that, I always take my bandana. It’s important to me because I can pull it down and that shuts everything down for me so I can go to sleep. Of course, that’s not the one I wear on stage.

Are there decisions that you regret in your career?

We always said that Agnostic Front is the aborted child of punk rock. We’re not the prettiest guys in the world. Our music is hard and aggressive and my vocal style is not for everybody. You need to be a certain person to like that. For a band like that, we’ve come very far. To be really successful, we would have to bring in better looking guys and a singer who has a more snarly kinda voice. But we are what we are and I’m proud of that. So, I regret nothing. I wouldn’t be able to change it anyway.

What’s the worst thing that happened to you on tour?

Of course, we’ve had some bad experiences, but it’s hard to name a specific one. Maybe not being able to play our first tour in Germany, because I got deported.

And what would you consider the best?

Basically, being in a band with Vinnie Stigma. He is one great entertainer and such a fun person to be around. That’s the best thing.

You have helped to create the style that is now known as New York Hardcore. But do you still feel anger like you did when you were young and it all started?

Of course not. The circumstances that I used to live in are so different from my life now. When I was young a lot of my energy came from being angry. When you grow older and you have a family you lose some of it. But there are still enough things in the world that make me angry. I see it that way: This music is what we do, and in a way, we recycle ourselves. But nothing is done intentionally. We write the songs the same way we used to.

And did anything change about your tour life?

Yes, I guess in a way we’ve become more professional. You need to be if you wanna give the audience what they expect. If I went out every night partying, I definitely couldn’t keep up with the energy of the audience. And that is a big problem. Nowadays the kids have so many bands to choose from. If you disappoint them once, they are possible not coming back. And also, they spent their hard-earned money to see us, so we have to give them what they deserve.

Is music itself still important to you? Do you go to a lot of shows?