ATP: ok dude, members and info?

duane: me, issac, john eightclip, ross trenary (rj phillips recently joined the band as the new bassist). were a hardcore band outta san francisco.

ATP: how did you get your start?

duane: i had talked to john about starting a band for ages, but I still lived in redding and he lived in the bay area. During that time I was still in the band some still believe. When I moved to Sf in Jan 2002, breaker breaker was just breaking up so it was the right time to start a band in the bay area and eventually it took off from there. John and I had also wanted the band to be harder than ssb or breaker breaker, or whatever. So that’s hows allegiance started.

ATP: who does the song writing? music? lyrics?

duane: john writes all the lyrics. Musically i write everything, well actually about 90% of it. ross comes up with some stuff and issac does his thing with the drums, but usually me and ross have a good idea of what we want the drums to sound like and sort of tell him what we want done. But he has really good ideas also, he’s an incredible drummer.

ATP: what does allegiance bring to the bay area?

duane: fuck. i dunno. lets see ....well there’s not a lot of straight edge bands, at least not in the bay area and i think we contribute that in a pretty positive way, were not too in your face, but were not a pussy about it either. We bring a good element of hardcore some straight up and some hard stuff ... whatever, I mean you're either into us or your not.

ATP: ok.. Does allegiance have and overall message, or are you just in it for the music?

duane: i think that’s actually 1 of our strong points musically. our band appeals to a lot of kids. There are hard parts that seems to be what a lot of kids want these days at least in the bay area, but i think we appeal to the "youth crew" and "metal" type kids, I think the music is important because that’s what catches there ears, but another strong point of ours is john’s lyrics. He does a great job lyrically and I think it stands out from other bands. He has a good mix of personal lyrics, but not really artsy, and straight forward songs. As far as straight edge songs, which we don’t have many, but i think john does a great job. I don’t think they’re not too clichéd or generic.

ATP: ok at what point on tour were you thinking "god damn im sick of this shit"?

duane: anyone who knows me knows i hate touring, i mean before i go i am stoked because of no work or school, but once I’m on the road i hate it, but as soon as i get back i start to miss it. Its sort of a love/hate relationship. Every tour I’ve ever been on with allegiance, some still believe, or even internal affairs, i just don’t function all that well. This last tour there were a few things that set me off but i think i held it together pretty well. i mean well.. There was a couple times... I just rolled with the punches this time. I held my sanity pretty well.

ATP: whats in the works for allegiance?

duane: well, our spit with internal affairs just came out, it is also a split release with rival and malfunction records. Now, were currently writing for an lp which will probably be coming out late winter, early summer? who knows

(at this point my friend jonah comes over cuz were supposed to go out for lunch so i kinda start to rush the interview. sorry.)

the full length will be coming out on rival records , were part of the rival family now. Were also going to be trying out bassists cuz mike is no longer playing with us. all of that is keeping us pretty busy right now.

ATP:what do you like about the bay area hardcore scene if anything?

duane: well when i was younger and lived in Redding, i hated it sometimes, it all seemed like metal bands. I would get bummed because I didn’t see all that many bands that were not like metal. Not that I don’t like metal or metallic hardcore, some of my fav bands are and allegiance has a some metallic elements. I just need variety ya know. Now that im older I would say the current bay area scene is the best scene in the country! Dude I’m not even just saying that cuz i live here, ive played and been to shows all over now and i think the bay area has got a great mixture of hardcore and all the kids support all the bands. I’m very proud to be a part of the bay area hardcore scene. I love it.

ATP: were there any goals you set with allegiance? If so have you achieved them and are you setting the bar higher?

duane: goals for allegiance ( in a thought ful voice) hmm well my first goal with any band was to release a 7 inch and i did that with some still believe. Of course i wanted to do the same with allegiance, which we have. and i definetly wanted to tour which allegiance has done a couple of times, writing a full length is our goal now. as far as the future goes, i would really like to tour europe. If we did that i would think i have really accomplished something with a band. There are things falling into place for us to do that in the future but for now im just crossing my fingers.

ATP: why is allegiance a straightedge band?

duane: when the band first started and we were writing the demo, it was brought up a few times but never really discussed. it was pretty much up in the air until the demo was written and we found out john had written straight edge lyrics to one of the songs. and that’s just they way it happened. All of us are straight edge and it’s important to all of us personally, but personally i don’t think ill ever do a straight edge band again. for allegiance it just worked out that way.

ATP: whats gets you pumped right now?

duane: life in general or hardcore wise?

ATP: whatever man.

duane: ive been playing medal of honor a lot lately, killing nazi's is pretty fun! My girlfriend, Chelsea also. My dad is very inspirational also. Hardcore wise bands like make move, verse, and lights out are like causing me to fall in love with hardcore all over again. Oh yeah, RIGHT ON! And I am not kidding; your guy’s demo got me so fucking siked on hardcore. It is one of my fav hardcore demos ever.

ATP: yea dude whatever.

duane: for serious! just people i meet kinda inspire me. This summer, goin on tour with cast aside, comeback kid and champion...though we’ve been friends with champion for years, but just meeting these dudes and makin new friends and experiencing new places

ATP: ok weird question i know but do you listen to allegiance?

duane: if i havent practiced in a while i will play along with it, but i dont just rock out to it.! i analyze it listen for things i might want to change or get ideas about future songs. but thats about it. If it comes up on a .mp3 play list on my computerI listen to it I guess.

ATP: what do you think is the biggest misconception of allegiance?

duane: fuck! i dunno what people think of us. i guess they like us , i mean all our shows just keep getting better and better, maybe some people think im an asshole cuz i dont talk to a lot of people, i dunno, but im not. shit man i dunno, Jonah what do you think?

jonah (currently engrossed in the latest issure of rolling stone) uhh i dunno?

duane: (mockingly) uhhh i dunno?

ATP: sometimes your a jerk!

duane: all right sometimes im a fucking asshole, but i try not to be.

ATP: ok well now uhh.. allright, when your king of the scene?

duane: id eliminate message boards, shows with just 1 genre of hardcore, i think the kids should support all types of hardcore in general. People that just listen to “youth crew” or “metal” are stupid. umm what else...fake thugs, people talkin shit, violence. Well, i think its gotten better in the bay area. i would make unity a necessity.. i know, i know its clichéd to say but seriously unity would be more of an issue. But it wont ever happen, so whatever.

ATP: ok. what band if any do you look to and are just kinda like wow!

duane: well i would say terror, whether you like them or not, i don’t think you could watch that band and say they dont have an incredible stage presence. people who arent even into hardcore, i think they’re jaws drop when they see terror. i know we will never get to that level. but even bands like make move verse lights out they totally get me pumped. comeback kid have an awesome stage presence as well.

ATP: ok shout outs anything you’d like to add? hurry the tapes running out.

duane: check out allegiance at www.rivalrecords.net. and everybody should check out bay area hardcore. its the best.