..theSouth..
please introduce the south, the members and give a bit of history:  the south is jeff mcnally.... jacob and ryan (sic). ryan is from south florida and has been playing in bands down there for about 7 years and movwed up to st augustine to go to school. jacob and jeff have been playing as a bass and drum outfit called in danger of dead for about 3 years now and the three of us kind of were in the same gun club until we started playing music (jk, bff) what where the original goals of the south? none at first, mostly to try and have about 3 shows and change our name each time...being young isn't about goals.... have they been met? we're still young.... what are the current goals and how you are you going about accomplishing them? we just love playing and getting music out there, we're going out to hawaii this christmas to go surfing and visit jeff's parents (brah) so i guess that's getting the music way out there...we just like the whole aspect of being in bands, touring, recording, getting vinyl you screen print the covers yourself, meeting new people, having fun and being young... what do you think sets the south apart from other bands? i don't think there's anything that we pride ourselves on as in having more heart, or sweeter riffs, or more energy than any other band.  its hard to try and compare yourself to anyone else when there's so many other bands out there that are just as honest and rocking as we are...when 5 kids show up to one of our shows, we are still excited because there's still so many other bands they could be out there seeing play or taking an avid interest in (thanks to those kids! in tampa).  we do wear funny costumes and set stuff on fire and take an active role in holding open dialogues with fiesta-goers, but there's tons of bands that do that, we're just another one, maybe with a different set of glasses on...  who would you consider your current contemporaries in the hardcore scene? oh yeah you know, ian mackaye, what's that guys name in motorheard...? umm, yeah sid, nancy, johnny, didi, dancer, prancer, nixon, man, dude, sweet, yeah, woodstock! seriously, this is a cool question...we like music our friends make. in the end we're all people who play music. some people just do it with (what we view as) more honesty and integrity, but in the end we're just as stoked to see certain bands play as we are to play with or talk to them.  friends like jim, darren and dave from the darius axis, scott from goalie, greg from the blackout terror, all of the rat trap, surf mike & the trouble house and the ark make our shows more fun than playing with any  huge named band....its not the town, its the people..... ...was it hard getting together? no, jacob had a crush on ryan for years, and ryan always had a thing for jeff...one night we were drinking wine, and well..... what is it that drives you to play music together as the south? jacob would rather play music than anything else. to ryan its more of a medium to get ideologies, pleasure, politics and friends all together with ener! gy and passion.  jeff's at the library doing homework, but the other day i heard him muttering something about "fuck the kids, we're studio musicians..."   (jk/bff) is it easy to go out there and play your music in front of an audience? yes, however its extremely difficult for jacob to play in an alligator thong as he has done.  but seriously, jacob does have the cutest butt in hardcore.... what politics and/or ethics, if any, play a role in the band, the lyrics and the way the group goes about it's business?  well the answer is very; not one of our songs has to deal with something completely personal. but to each person, they relate in different ways.  the three of us come from a very ecologically driven background. ryan has been working with earth first! for years now and jacob and jeff have been working within st. john's county on the environmental youth congress which is facilitated by jacob's dad (thanks bill!).  We all write a lot of stuff dealing with women's issues, not in a defense stance mindset but in more of a taking back the self sense of worth we owe women as! well as our own criticisms of the punk scene's relation to women.   As a whole, no one song is definitively written about one topic, we each all add something on the same subject to make it more personal, but in the end all stand behind what each person says (or screams....) does one person write the lyrics, the guitar parts, etc or is it collectively done? its  completely what each person brings and wants to bring to a new song.  we all respect each person with what instrument they play and in the end they have the final say, but we all play all three instruments so we understand and can guide each other in to alternative thinking pattens which helps us a lot. does everyone in the band have the same basic musical interests and thought on how to create a good song? when you hear a good song of ours, let us know.... what are the bands' future plans? another recording coming out very soon and play as much as possible right now until summer when we can tour as much as our highway machine will permit what is your current take on the florida hardcore scene? its totally hard to play if you're not from here, so we're kind of lucky, but i wouldn't live anywhere else right now  You're from a town (st. augustine) that's not very well known for it's hardcore scene...was it hard getting together? no, it kind of just fell into place. weird sometimes....nothing was forced even though we've all been living in the same town for four years now (jeff and jacob their whole lives) that it came naturally. if you had to add a famous rockstar (living or dead) to the south line up, who would it be? outkast how can kids get a hold of you? the south 125 sherwood ave st. augustine fl 32084 www.bythekids.com/thesouth or www.deadtankdistro.com