Earth Crisis Frontman Karl Buechner on Animal Rights, Ignoring Haters
Since forming in the early '90s, Earth Crisis have been one of the most influential bands in the hardcore movement. The New York act's outspoken views on animal rights and their promotion of a straight-edge, vegan lifestyle haven't always made them popular in the hxc scene, but their fanbase continues to grow throughout the world.
On May 19, Bullet Tooth will release The Discipline, a 4-song 7" EP that will include two re-recorded tracks from Earth Crisis' seminal debut, Destroy the Machines, which turns 20 this year. It'll also include two re-recorded early-career demos. Fuse spoke with Earth Crisis singer Karl Buechner (far right in the photo above) to get the lowdown on the new EP, plus his thoughts on straight-edge culture and the band's critics.
This May is the 20th anniversary of your debut album, Destroy the Machines. Did someone else bring that milestone to your attention, or was it on your radar already?
That particular album seems to have a special place in our fans' hearts. When we have been out playing shows over the last few years, we've had a lot of people tell us that Destroy the Machines has meant a lot to them. We've been looking forward to the anniversary so we could play the album in its entirety. Some of the songs off of it we only ever played once or twice live.
22m
20m
21m
21m
20m
20m
1h 22m
20m
21m
2m
23m
23m
8m
2m
46m
11m
10m
20m
44m
1h 13m
20m
43m
21m
44m
44m
20m
3m
22m
1m
22m
22m
46m
23m
20m
2m
44m
20m
41m
45m
21m
12m
2m
1m
13m
14m
10m
3m
1m
21m
2m
51s
20m
5m
2m
3m
2m
7m
1m
2m
1m
14m
9m
12m
7m
1m
1m
1m
9m
10m
17m
1m
1m
4m
3m
1m
10m
9m
9m
5m
1m
22m
20m
44m
24m
3m
19m
20m
20m
13m
44m
24m
44m
24m
23m
1h 22m
23m
1m
1h 27m
22m