It’s been four decades since Stäläg 13, one of the four original Nardcore bands, formed in Oxnard, California. It’s been 37 years since they released their undisputed punk classic, In Control. Still, 2021 seems like as good a time as any for a proper follow up. Fill In The Silence released February 29, through the combined efforts of Puke N Vomit Records and Plain Disguise Records.
John Crerar, a self-described Nardcore fanatic, replaced original Stäläg 13 singer Ron Baird about seven years ago, after Baird relocated to Australia. Crerar has howled for The Missing 23rd, Stop Breathing, Dad Brains and a bunch more. With Baird’s blessing, the band carried on and has been busier than ever. With Crerar at the helm, Stäläg 13 even managed to tour Europe for the first time.
Crerar was a natural fit. He explains: “I knew the guys. I knew the songs. I could sing the songs. We started playing a bunch with the In Control lineup with me singing. People wanted us in Europe, so we toured Europe.”
As confident as Crerar was singing those old songs, the idea of making a new record was still intimidating. “I kind of didn’t want to do it,” he confesses. “It took a little convincing for me to do it, but our guitar player [Blake Cruz] basically talked me into it. He’s a good motivator!”
“I’ve never really been nervous when I put out music, but now I’m like, fuck! What did we do?” Crerar laughs. “It put fear in the back of my head.”
Fortunately, his fears have been unfounded. “So far people have been stoked,” he reports.
Fans should be stoked. Fill In The Silence manages to be both modern and classic sounding. Ultimately, they found a way to bridge the past and present. “The new record isn’t really all new songs,” Crerar says. “They had a bunch of songs they would play that weren’t on In Control but were from back in the day, and they still play now. Half of the songs on the record are kind of those songs.”
“They have a demo from before In Control came out,” he continues. “It’s a shitty-ass recording, so we kind of retooled some of those songs and I wrote new lyrics for them. So, some of it is that and some of it is brand new.”
Stäläg 13 also re-recorded two songs from In Control, “Conditioned” and “Black Stix”, for Fill In The Silence. The reasoning behind that is actually kind of endearing. “Drummer Larry White, he’s in the picture on the Stäläg 13 record In Control, but he didn’t record the drums. He joined right after they recorded,” Crerar explains. “I know he wanted to record his drums on those songs he’s been playing for 35 years.”
“Larry is like the Nardcore hero dude. He was in Agression, then he was in Stӓläg 13, then he was in Dr. Know,” Crerar continues. “That’s the cool thing about the scene out here. The old dudes still hang out. The young kids hang out. When there are shows it’s cool.”
Speaking of shows, Stӓlӓg 13 did manage to sneak one into 2020. “There’s a place in Oxnard, a big parking lot at the community center, and they’ve been doing shows there. We did a show with Pulley there over the summer,” Crerar recalls.
Like most everything else in 2020, it was a little strange. “It was cool. It was just really weird to play for cars and have people honk at you,” Crerar concludes.
A new record from Stäläg 13 in 2021 is also a little strange –but, with Fill In The Silence, it’s definitely a good kind of strange.
Listen to Fill In The Silence below, and grab a copy on vinyl, cassette or CD here.
Follow Stӓlӓg 13: Facebook/Instagram
Images courtesy of Stӓlӓg 13. Featured image credit: Albert Munoz.
