Interview | Clique

featuring Joven Anselmo

Congrats on joining forces with Closed Casket Activities. How did that come about?

Thank you! We are so hyped to be working with CCA on the next couple of releases. As a band, we always want to DIY as much as possible. In an ideal world, I could focus so much more of my waking life to writing music and moving things along logistically with CLIQUE, but life does not allow that. It’s nice to have a label as seasoned and successful as them to help us take care of some of the things that we probably aren’t equipped to do as a band and hone in on the things we would prefer to focus on. CCA is for the core and continues to be very DIY in ethics and practice. Beyond that, we’re all very big fans of the label and their legendary lineup so we’re very thankful to be part of it. 

We didn’t know Justin personally when he reached out to us. I think there were just a lot of mutual happenings between CLIQUE and CCA bands that it only made sense to talk about working together. We have been honored to play some shows over our couple years of existence with CCA/CCA affiliated bands like Harms Way, Ingrown, Scalp, King Woman, The Body, etc. 

You've mentioned that writing/recording ‘Communique' using Max Epstein's studio was a totally new approach as opposed to sounding out each track in your practice space. Do you think your next project is going to spawn in the studio or will it be back to the way that you used to do it? 

Writing and tracking everything in studio with Max was amazing. At least for myself and this project, it was very eye-opening to what we were capable of musically. I think we’ll do some sort of hybrid between in-studio and pre-production on our own. We all live a little scattered and are very capable of starting/contributing to songs on our own schedules. I anticipate that this next record will organically have a different approach and process as we continue to learn what it means to write music for CLIQUE. 

‘Future Denied’ is somewhat of an homage to the 1994 Zapatista uprising. Are there any other songs written in reference to specific historical events like this?

The song itself isn’t much of an homage as was the release date on the 30 year anniversary of the Zapatista uprising. I feel like we don’t offer too much in music as that of the guerilla’s sacrifice, but we thought timing worked well and the gesture a nod to our freedom fighters, who continue to fight today. 

I don’t know if there is a single song that aligns directly with a specific event. Lyrically and musically we take a lot of inspiration from a number of historical and contemporary events in struggle - whether it is that of the individual who works a mundane and exploitative job only to get by on the bare minimum or the revolutionaries who put everything on the line for liberation. Think Sacco & Vanzetti, the Cuban Revolution, the Black Liberation Army, Aaron Bushnell. 

What do you think bands in the current hc scene can/should be doing more of when it comes to taking action against political injustice?

Hardcore to me has always been subversive and revolutionary in message and practice. My hope is that current bands help to maintain that even as the genre grows and there become more eyes on what we do. I think it’s crucial to use our platform to speak on social, political, and environmental injustice, as well as giving back to the communities that we have built our current scene on. It’s also important to use what we’ve built and become as a basis for something potentially bigger. 

Hardcore was my introduction to revolutionary politics. I don’t think it is the end all be all, but contemporary bands can leverage their platform to build awareness and provide the inspiration and tools one needs to continue subversive action. Raising benefit money to organizations and people in need is great. A brick through a window is also great. 

What are the motivations for using the OSPAAAL logo on your recent releases?

We are all students and admirers (strictly) of popular struggle and revolutionary movements. One of us came across an art exhibit of OSPAAAL posters and everything about it resonated with what we try and do aesthetically with CLIQUE and our anti-colonial/black & brown unity tendencies. 

What does the LHF stand for?

Beware the LHF! It can mean a number of things but we use it as a moniker. There’s a terrible emo band under a similar name as us that got all mad and believes they have domain over the very generic name of CLIQUE so we tag the LHF along with it. “Left-Hand Fam” if you are curious. 

Since the ethos of the band is to be collaborative by nature, are there any specific bands/producers/artists that you’d like to work with in the future?

Oh man there are probably a ton I can list off. We’re super excited to be working with Taylor Young (The Pit, Twitching Tongues, Deadbody, Gods Hate) on mixing our EP/LP. There are continual talks of doing more Cluster type stuff. If anyone has a connect, would love to work with Rage Against The Machine.

Photo: AJ Wilson

Originally published in Issue 4 - September 2024