Earth Crisis
Photos and interview by: Emile Janicot and Antonius “Toad” Dintcho

Earth Crisis is one hell of a band, some of the nicest guys that we have ever met as well as skaters with great attitudes towards the world. We were not sure what they wanted to do, after they had traveled all day in their van from Vegas, so we left it up to them, got in Toad’s van and headed south on Hwy 1 in the beautiful afternoon sunlight. Half Moon Bay skatepark was our destination. The following words are a candid conversation with Karl (Vocalist), Dennis (Drummer), and Eric (Guitarist) cruising down the One listening to Ozzy.

EJ: Other interests besides playing in the band?
Karl: Skateboarding, snowboarding, and scuba diving is fun!
Dennis: Skateboarding, snowboarding, mountain biking, I do sculpture and visual arts as well. I read a lot of non-fiction autobiographical stuff too.
Eric: Lifting weights, reading Stephen King books and Star Trek rules! Anybody who doesn’t like it can fuck off!
Toad: Tell us about Ozzy!
Karl: Ozzy pretty much invented metal music, and it is amazing to see him keep putting out new records. My favorite is No Rest for the Wicked!
Dennis: Ozzy and his wife are two of the nicest people in rock and roll. They are super approachable, and totally nice. Sharon Osbourne called me at work and asked me if we wanted to go out to California to play in Ozzfest. That was so amazing!

EJ: What is your favorite place to play live shows?
Karl: My Favorite show that we played was on the Ozzfest tour. I like to play any big festivals, where to stage is big so we can run around!
Dennis: The House of Blues in Chicago and LA. Those places are amazing! They have these lounges for the bands that are really nice.
Eric: I like the House of Blues, The Whiskey in L.A. and the 930 Club in D.C.
Toad: Is it a prerequisite to be straight edge and a vegan to be in the band?
Karl: Kind of yes. We all think that animals are cool. I don’t want to be part of something that hurts animals. We don’t want people to force something on us, because we are not going to force things on them.
Dennis: We are all straight edge and vegan, so it is easier to be in the band together, and we all have very similar lifestyles that we are into.

EJ: Why is the Earth in Crisis?
Karl: Impending ecological holocaust.

EJ: What is the best place you have traveled to?
Karl: Tokyo was amazing! It looked like it was five years ahead in the future.
Dennis: I would have to say Zimbabwe, Africa. It was the most extreme difference in culture that I have been in.
Eric: Bogota, Columbia. We played a show for 120,000 people for a Rock in the Park festival. It was crazy! There were these giant TV screens, it was huge!

EJ: What is your favorite smell?
Karl: Napalm in the morning! (The van erupts with laughter.)
Dennis: Cake.
Eric: Dirty gym socks! (More cackles)

EJ: Tell us about your scene in NY.
Karl: We have all kinds of fans out there that listen to us. People that like aggressive music, we want to put energy into them when they come see us, or hear the music.
Dennis: In the end, that’s what we play for, anyone that appreciates aggressive, heavy music.
Eric: We appreciate people that appreciate us.
Karl: We are open minded dudes!

EJ: What are some of your influences?
Karl: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Road Warrior and Larry Flynt! (The van fills with laughter.)
Dennis: Dennis Chambers; a great drummer and Audre Lourde; a great author.
Eric: Me, myself, and I. My Parents, Robert DeNiro, Tom Selleck, Mr. T, and my alter ego, WuShaka 2000.

EJ: What is the message of your music?
Karl: Cloning and robotic machinery are going to change the world, an only a small percent of the wealthy elite will profit from it. That is the theme from the latest record, Slither.
Dennis: Yeah the latest album is the one that sounds the best.
Eric: We got to play more of what we wanted on this album.

Toad and I had a great time hanging out with Earth Crisis for the afternoon. We went to their show later that night and I have to say that it was one of the best metal shows I have ever been to. Earth Crisis puts on a very high energy rock show that seriously kicks ass! People were moshing, crowd surfing, and having a great time as the onslaught of metal militia music was making my chest cave in. They hooked us up with some gear as we headed into the warm SF night, and we said our good-byes to these highly gifted and talented individuals, that I will remember for many years to come. If you have the chance go see them live. You will not be disappointed. Earth Crisis rocks the earth!