Warzone
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ENGINES
AGGRE
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nhuman Nature
THE ALBUM FEATURING THE DEBUT SINGLE
"ALL THE RAGE"
N STORES
NOW
New York hardcore is best represented by
the bands that live it, and Warzone, a crucial
cornerstone from the Lower East Side, is no
exception. Their singer, Ray Beez, has the
stature of someone who could be horribly
intimidating, but instead is soft-spoken and sin-
cere. He says he got his name from the girlies
who would tell him he was sweet like a honey-
bee, and instead of calling him honey or some
other corny nickname that didn't sound punk
enough, the name Ray Beez evolved. Since
Warzone first got together ten years ago, Ray
has seen band members come and go for vari-
ous reasons. He marvels at the stamina of
bands like the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.
"We've lost members because they went off to
school or jail," Beez says. "People get tired of
putting money out, people start thinking that
it's just not fun anymore. I've lost girlfriends,
apartments and friendships because of my
devotion to this band."
Beez says he's watched the New York scene
crumble all around him as alternative became
synonymous with big business. "You have
maybe two different promoters that work the
clubs and you can't get on the bills if you don't
have a booking agent or a manager," he says.
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"You have to play the game in order to get
shows. It's all monopolized-who's touring with
who. Seven years ago you had venues like
Rock Hotel, The Ritz and CBGB's where you
had big bands coming in, and out of respect
you'd have a local band opening up. It's not
like that anymore-it's all a game. There are so
many bands that don't even get a chance."
Ray believes bands that do make it have a
responsibility to give something back to the
scene that spawned them. He credits Bio-
hazard for a show they did at Roseland where
they had some of their friends from different
bands all come up and do mini-sets before an
audience that was probably a lot larger than
any these bands had ever played before.
Warzone's shows in Mexico City last spring
were a humbling experience for Ray. "The only
other hardcore band that had played there was
Sick of it All and these kids were like ten years
behind us," he says. "They were all punk-
rocked out. They had heard of Warzone from
the Lower East Side, the barrio, and to them it
was a lot more than it really was. They were liv-
ing so poor and they were so appreciative of
everything. We played for an hour and a half
and we were drenched with sweat. We couldn't
play anymore, we'd played all our songs twice
and we were exhausted. When we stopped,
they kept yelling, Warzone, Warzone.' Here
were these kids who live on the street who I'll
never see again, and they thought we were like
Led Zeppelin. For three hours after the show I
was signing these kids backs, "Warzone-La
Raza." We made a record while we were there,
Todos las Cansiones para las Barrio (All the
Songs for the Homeboys in the Ghetto)."
The new album Old School/New School
gives props to old school bands via cover
songs while bringing them to together with
new Warzone songs. Ray says he can't stand to
hear bands talk about community on stage and
then talk shit about people or say how stupid
people are for paying thirty bucks for their
shirts. He'd like to see Warzone become the
Grateful Dead of hardcore because he consid-
ers his fans part of the Warzone family, or as he
now calls it, the Warzone frontier.
"A lot of bands put themselves on pedes-
tals," he says. "But people really get into what
you sing about. These kids look up to us and a
lot of bands forget about this. You can't do
that, you got to put that shit in check because
karma comes back to you." -Jennifer Lehrer
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