Cover photo by World Be Free.
World Be Free is a hardcore band with a singular mission, to make the world a better place for it having existed. The term supergroup is used superfluously in hardcore, but World Be Free lives up to the implications of the phrase in a way that few other bands can. The band assembles the talents of Terror vocalist Scott Vogel, guitarist Joe Garlipp of Envy (US), guitarist Andrew Kline of Strife and Berthold City, drummer Sammy Siegler who has kept time and provided motivating propulsion in the past for Judge, CIV, Rival Schools, and bassist Alex Barreto of Chain Of Strength and Excel fame. “Super” may actually be an understatement when applied to this group.
World Be Free first came together in 2014 and released their debut album Anti-Circle in 2016 with Arthur Smilios of CIV on bass. Now they’re back with a new release on Revelation records, an EP they’re calling One TIme for Unity. A melodic Molotov of high-impact energy and positive reverberations.
One Time for Unity ignites with the opening track “Acceptance,” and amped-up machete chop that sounds like it’s bouncing off the walls and twisting itself into sharp little knots, like a slinky being pulled through a pinball machine. “Down & Beyond” is like a dive-bomb down a twenty-flight tenement stairwell only to be rescued by a fortunately placed and stretchy clothes-line and bungied back to the top floor to safety. And the title track feels like a fight to end all fights. Like your scraping and kicking and clawing your way out of a burning car, dragging yourself to the nearest curb and popping a squat there to smoke a cigarette and passively look on as emergency workers and fire-fighters attempt to salvage what’s left of your capsized sedan. Oh, and Chuck Ragan is there! For moral support and to bum a cig and a light.
As World be Free gets psyched up for the release of One Time for Unity, some of their members took the time to chat with New Noise about their upcoming release and the band more broadly. You can check out the transcript of our conversation below.
Get a copy of One Time for Unity here.
The following Interview was conducted via Zoom in October 2020. The transcript has been edited slightly for the sake of brevity and clarity.
Thank you to Andrew, Sammy, and Scott of World Be Free for joining me for New Noise.
First question, two-parter: where does your name come from and how often are you confused for the famous 76ers player World B. Free?
Scott and Andrew: Sammy?
Sammy: That was just always in the back of my mind because of the basketball player. I just always had it in the back of my mind, like “wow, that would be a cool band name.” It’s just really cool. It’s a no brainer. We just spelled it a little bit different. When we started this project a couple of years ago, we had the conversation about what the hell we were going to call ourselves, and I thought “well, what the hell,” so I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out. It’s a great name. Who doesn’t want the world to be free?
Scott: Can I add something here? It definitely is a challenge these days to come up with a name that’s fresh and doesn’t sound like it’s been taken. And we were having a little bit of back and forth and not getting anywhere but when Sammy came up with that I knew he was really on to something. Sammy can be a strange person but he has some amazing ideas.
Andrew: Some bad ones too. [Laughs]
What were some of the names that got nixed?
Andrew: Anti-circle was a band name. It was an idea for the name of the band.
Scott: That I got from the hip-hop group The Roots. I was just looking into their lyrics for inspiration and I saw the “Anti-circle.” But yeah, that got demoted to record title. At one point I was pushing for No Division which is from Hot Water Music. Sammy completely shut that whole thing down, that thing that people do where they take a record title or a song title from another band, he said “Come one man, you can do better than that. Come up with something more original.” In hindsight that was taking the easy way or the lazy way out.
Andrew: Sammy wanted to call the band Satin ‘n Lace. I think The Doilies was another one.
Sammy: Satin ‘n Lace is cool man.
Andrew: The Fortune Cookies. That was one too.
In terms of your sound for this project, how much did Hot Water Music influence it?
Andrew: I would say that we are more influenced by the bands who influenced them [Hot Water Music]. I don’t think we sound like Hot Water Music, at all. The first record [Anti-Circle] we were definitely influenced by DC hardcore and ‘80s New York hardcore, bands like Dag Nasty and the more melodic side of New York hardcore. Maybe some Minor Threat. A stripped-down hardcore approach and adding some melody. I will say that when Scott started tracking his vocals, that would be the biggest place where it meets Hot Water Music. He’s got that gruff melody that you hear from Chuck Ragan. With the new record, we took the songs in another direction. At times we got a little heavier, at times we got a little more melodic. And then we have the title track “One Time for Unity,” which actually features Chuck Ragan from Hot Water Music. We’re all fans of Hot Water Music. Sammy put out a Hot Water Music record. Scott will tell you they’re one of his favorite bands. I’ve loved them since the ‘90s. We’re all fans but I don’t think we sound alike.
Scott: There is a lot of push and pull in this band, you might get a little bit of it from this interview, but ultimately we land in a cool place. With hardcore you can go a little heavier, a little more melodic, a little more old school, a little more new school, whatever, and the five of us, Arthur on the last record, and Alex on this record, we all just pull from these different things, and when we are writing it’s a bit of a tug of war, but we ultimately land in this place where you can hear all those little substyles in it.
That’s something that definitely comes across in the music, there is a little bit of a tension there, and I guess that’s where it comes from. All of you not necessarily agreeing on everything, but wanting to comes together to get a record made.
Scott: Did you just say that you can tell by the music that we don’t agree on things? Because that is a pretty deep insight and very perceptive.
Andrew: The thing about this band is that everyone adds their own influence. I can come up with a song, that in a normal band, that song would be done. I would bring it to practice. We’d jam it out. It would be done. But with this band, I’ll bring it, we’ll jam with it, and then Sammy will do something that’s completely the opposite of what’s in my head. [He’ll] take a different spin on it. He’ll be like, “let me put a less obvious drumbeat here.” And then Alex is such an amazing bass player, he has the ability to take the song to another level just through his darkness and the influences of his other bands. And then Joe, the other guitar player, he’s just a weirdo, I don’t even know what he’s into, but it’s like strange ‘80s metal with rock leads and riffs and somehow it all works together. And it’s all those things that make a World Be Free record stand out against another hardcore band. Sometimes it’s hard for us all to be on the same page but I think there is some magic in our collaboration.
And Joe is in Envy… that’s not the Japanese hardcore band, is it?
Andrew: No different Envy. [Laughs] He was also in Despair with Scott and he’s a tour manager for bands like The Who and Motley Crue.
Scott: We sound like Motley Crue.
[All Laugh]
Andrew: I mean his guitar licks could go there if we let him. But it’s the five of us together that make the band interesting.
Continuing our discussion about your influences, honestly, you guys sound a lot like CIV to me. Like mid-90s CIV. I’m getting vibes from Set Your Goals on this new record, but there are also just a lot of thrashy parts and big guitar parts that wouldn’t necessarily fit on a CIV record.
Andrew: I could definitely see the CIV comparison.
Scott: CIV is just a great band, come on!
Andrew: For the first album especially we had both Sammy and Arthur, so you’re going to hear that playing. But the approach was that we were going to do some straightforward hardcore songs and then some melodic songs and that’s what CIV did with that record as well, but ours is more stripped down and less produced. I think we had similar goals when writing the first record but with this new one, I don’t think you hear that as much. I think we took it to a different place. And as amazing of a bass player as Author was, Alex is a totally different player, so the rhythm section locks-in in a different way, with different grooves and darker elements. The bass playing on the first record, it’s happy! And that’s where the rhythm section brought that CIV vibe, but Alex brings a totally different vibe. Darker and aggressive.
Tell me a little more about how you guys write songs.
Scott: It’s kind of cool. [For this record] we just took some time and wrote a bunch of songs, and then we took some time, came back and wrote a couple more. So we ended up with a lot of tunes. And I like to write music that way, where you can just kind of step back, maybe wait a month and listen a little and think, “Well this one’s not very good. Or, oh shit! This one is pretty special, let’s pursue it!” And that’s been the process for both records, and definitely for this one.
Andrew: Definitely for this one. To be honest, for this record we wrote well over 20 songs over a two year period. There would be times when we would be productive and trying to jam out songs, really trying to find the direction for this record. Initially, Sammy and I wanted to take it in a more melodic direction. Like, as if we were doing the first record, Minor Threat and Dag Nasty, and take it in the direction of Embrace, or a heavier Dag Nasty approach. So we wrote a lot of songs in that vein, and actually “One Time for Unity” came from those earlier sessions. But then Scott was like, “let’s go heavier, let’s go more aggressive.” So the first song on the record “Acceptance” has a darker more aggressive vibe and Scott really connected to that. Alex also wanted to take it heavier, so he was on board with Scott’s thing. So that all had a lot to do with it. Figuring out where we wanted to go with it and the band and progress it, no matter what! And everyone contributes to this band. Joe had a bunch of songs. Sammy had a bunch of songs. I had a bunch of songs. Alex came in and had some riffs…
Scott: And Scott brings it all together man!
Andrew: Scott’s kind of like a producer in a way, because he’s like “Nope, not using this one,” or, “this one’s cool.” He’s just trimming the fat. He’s like, “I’m not going to vibe on this, it doesn’t matter who likes it.” Scott is the final judge. “These are the one’s we’re using. These are the one’s we’re not.”
And you guys let him override you like that? I mean, come on? [Laughs]
Sammy: He’s got to sing on it and feel good about it, so at the end of the day that’s it. He’s got to feel good about it.
He’s got to feel the vibe, right?
Scott: I don’t think matters to me who wrote the song. If the song is melodic or heavy. If the song is fast or slow. It’s if I hear a song and I feel it, and I feel like it will give off an energy that people will connect to, then that is a good song. If I hear it and it goes in one ear and out the other and I don’t feel it then I’m not going to write anything to it that is going to be memorable, it’s just going to be a filler song. So let’s only write songs that are going to have the right energy and the right power to them.
Is that how One Time for Unity Ended up being an EP instead of an LP?
Andrew: That was kind of Scotts doing. Sammy and I were like, “let’s write a second LP. We have songs!” But Scott liked the idea of coming back with something short. We’ve been gone for a little while, so we’ve got to have some great songs, no filler. And I get that. I love the new record. It’s different, but I think people are really going to like it.
Scott: My thought process was that people’s attention spans are so short right now. I love the first record but I feel like we could have cut off a few songs and made it more impactful. There are 14 tracks and we could have kept it at 10. There are some on there that just aren’t as good as some others. So for this one, sure we had all these songs, but I think one of the problems is that so many people write songs and of course they are married to their songs and think their songs are needed for the record. And I came at it as, “let’s make a record that is digestible to people in 2020.” People don’t listen to full-lengths any more. They listen to a song or two and then they are on to the next thing. So let’s give them something that is a little short and sweet, and deliver it with what I think are the most impactful songs. And that was my thought process.
I read somewhere that the song “Acceptance” is what made this record happen. It kind of salvaged the project. Before that it was in a bit of limbo. I think that quote is attributed to you, Scott, if I am not mistaken.
Scott: I think I was being a little lazy about the project and the other guys were getting a lot together without me. And I’m out with my other band [Terror] constantly. So I was just unavailable and mentally unavailable, so there was a lot of stuff being written, and I was just like “yeah, that’s cool. Ok, that’s good.” But when I heard “Acceptance,” when these guys sent it to me, it was perfect! The energy, the speed, the power! Everything about it was perfect! It was a slap in the face! This band is too good for me to keep neglecting it. And so I started to put more of my attention towards it.
Sammy: I remember with Rival Schools when we were writing the second record Pedals, once we had the song “Wring It Out,” that was it, that was our “Travel by Telephone,” and “Acceptance” was that for this record. Once we had it, it was cool because now we could go left or right, or up or down. It gave us direction.
Scott: Sammy, anytime you want to talk about Rival Schools or Walter [Schreifels] in this or any interview, go for it! I love the comparison.
Do you see yourselves going in more of a post-hardcore direction on future releases? I figured I’d ask because we’re now on the subject of Rival Schools and bands like that.
Sammy: That might be a little much. We have these other bands, right? Like Scott has Terror. We don’t need to be another Terror. Andrew has Strife and Berthold City. So that’s where I thought that maybe we could go in more of an Embrace or Hot Water Music direction, a more melodic direction [with World Be Free]. But it’s hard to say where it’s going to go. Not doing what we do in our other bands is probably a good place to start. I remember Scott saying that to me when the project started, he told me, that a successful show is one where someone gets a bloody nose. And I thought to myself, that it’s great that he has a band that allows him that kind of an outlet, so maybe World Be Free can be something different.
So what is the difference between World Be Free and your other bands? What do you want people to appreciate about this band?
Andrew: This is a fun band. People are going to come to our shows and have a great time. We’re not looking for the reaction from like a Terror, Strife, or Judge. It’s going to be a different kind of positive energy. It’s always been reflected in the artwork and in some of the lyrics. A different vibe. Still hardcore but a fun take on it. That’s where we wanted to go and I think we did a good job.
Scott: Yeah, I think our first record definitely delivered that. And it’s a cool artistic outlet that is 100% based in hardcore and friendship and vibes, so who knows where we’re going to land with the next record. It might be a three-song cassette or a double album [laughs]. It’s kind of wide open. It’s just sort of fun. We all have our serious bands. When this first started it was loose, it was just like a project, which is a great way to jump in the ship. I was just hoping that we wouldn’t overthink it too much, but what ends up happening is that we do. [Laughs]
How did you guys get Chuck Ragan on the title track for One Time for Unity? Did you camp out on his lawn, was there a letter-writing campaign? How did that happen?
Scott: When we did that song I felt like we needed to get a guest vocalist on it. My first idea was to get Garrett [Klahn] from Texas is the Reason, as someone, I grew up with. I love the guy but when I wrote to him he gave me a little bit of a run around answer, like “send it to me and I’ll see what I can do with it.” And then I wanted to get Elena [Ritchie] from Ashes, but that didn’t end up going anywhere. And then it was my idea to get Chuck Ragan, who I consider a friend, and who I think knows that I jock the shit out of his band. So I wrote Jason [Black], and he gave me Chucks contact, so then I wrote Chuck and he said he was down to do it. I think he got it done in like two weeks. I know he has a crazy schedule with his fishing company. But he did it, sent it back to us, and it was done.
Andrew: And he did an amazing job. I think he did more for the song than we even imagined. We had the idea of him just singing this end part, and he came in and approached it like a Hot Water Music song, singing parts of the choruses, and you can hear him in the verses doubling up with Scott. It’s really cool! I think he really adds a lot to that song.
Scott: We had Walter [Schreifels] on the first record and Chuck on this one. That’s bucket list stuff for me.
Well don’t kick the bucket quite yet, you still need to promote this record.
Andrew: The plan for this record originally was to have it out in early summer, but things got messed up with the pressing plants due to COVID. But also there is no rush. We’re not really going to be able to play to support it until things open back up anyway.
Scott: It’s very timely with the election stuff. I mean, “One Time For Unity,” like, World Be Free, like, come on folks!
Andrew: Right, put some positive vibes out into the world. We need them.
One Time For Unity drops on Revelation Records on November 13, 2020. You can snag yourself a copy here.
