A long time ago (Febuary, 23rd 2010) I asked Patrick Kindlon who is the singer of End Of A Year a few questions. I was going to use this for a zine, but obviously that never worked out and I was looking through old emails and found this. Enjoy. Oh and if spread it around if you know anyone what would be into it.
HEAD2WALL - First of all, what kind of band would you call End of a Year? I was introduced to you guys as being a "Revolution Summer" band, and I see that, but I always thought of End of a Year as an unconventional (non-boring) hardcore band.
PATRICK KINDLON - That's always how I've seen us as well. Within the band, we don't talk about what sort of band we are very often. We grew up playing in hardcore bands and I think we always just presume, on some level, that's what we're doing. But then we'll play with some awful diarrhea-breath unoriginal hardcore band and we'll say "We're not this. I don't know what we are, but we're not this." So I guess I'm as confused as the listeners on this question. Maybe we're a hard indie band? But then we'll play with indie bands and feel no connection to them either.
H2W - I've heard you talk about your songs during your sets, and you often mention lust and greed as central themes. Would you say that these are a common fixation in your life? Do you feel that they're covered enough in hardcore and punk?
PK - The only theme in my life. My dad never touched my dick and I don't enter a pit of depression when a woman leaves me, so what else is there? Politics? I don't understand the appeal. So when I'm singing, I'm typically talking about things that are active in my mind all the time, and that's mostly a weird compulsion to have more than I've been told I can have.
H2W - End of a Year has a new LP coming out this year. What topics will we find you covering on the new record? And I know you have a lot of other stuff up your sleeve... What can you divulge?
PK - It's a bunch of smug assholes celebrating how much we love ourselves. 100% that's what it is. The name of the record is YOU ARE BENEATH ME and I think people can infer something from the title. I tried singing on the record and it was an abject failure, so that will have to wait until next record. I still sound like a tuneless asshole. The band sounds good though.
H2W - Would you rather play with hardcore bands, pop punk bands, indie bands, ska bands, or other types? At what shows do you think you have had the best reaction?
PK - We like playing with anyone who plays tight and serious. No one in the band aside from me is into heavy stuff aside from me, but when we play with Reign Supreme we're all on the side of the stage. That's because they are tight and serious. Same with Cruel Hand. Goofy dudes off-stage, but when they play they play serious. When we get offers for tours, the only question the band has is "can they play?" Hard to say where we get the best reaction. I'll try a ska show. At this point, I'm willing to play anything. I think we're on show 220 or some nonsense, the vast majority of those shows being hardcore shows, so any variety is fine with me. Ska city, here we come.
H2W - hat kind of interaction would you like to have with the crowd? What do you think they will take home with them after seeing End of a Year?
PK - Ideally there would be a bunch of beautiful women in the front row trying to rip my clothes off and throwing their motel room keys at me. But as things are, I would be content with people watching and taking it into their heads and liking it or disliking it.
H2W - How long have you been going to shows, and have you been in any bands prior to End of a Year?
PK - I think I went to my first show sophomore year of high school, so I guess that would make me 15 at the time? I have no memory for that sort of thing. Kids want to talk to me about shows from years ago and I can only give a vague "they were good" or "that band sucked." I have memory problems. I was in a hardcore band in high school that sounded like apes playing Pantera and I borrowed all lyrical inspiration from 108. I've been in other bands while I've been in End of a Year and some of those have been more popular locally. Kids from hicktowns south of Albany come up to me and tell me the mosh band I was in with lyrics about burning down venues full of people was the "best fuckin' shit ever" man. Weird life.
H2W - How long have you been straight edge, and what does it mean to you?
PK - Since I was 16, I think. I can get all heavy about it, but I think it's best explained like this: My thoughts are jumbled and I'm not the smartest guy. But I want things. So putting shit in my way to make life more confusing seems like a jackass thing to do. People typically describe me as
"happy" and I think being straight edge is part of that.
H2W - Could you tell me some things you like about yourself, and some that you hate?
PK - I like that I don't remember bad things. Some people carry shit around with them their whole lives. I'm grateful I don't wrestle with memories. I'm not sure I hate anything about myself, but I wish my brain was more efficient. I don't understand even basic math.
H2W - What would you say is the best show you have ever seen?
PK - I saw Lungfish in Brooklyn and it really knocked my socks off. My first or second show was Warzone and that probably started this whole thing for me, so that's big. And I always reference the time I saw Sick of It All. I think it shaped me to a large degree.
H2W - Do you have any go-to hardcore records? On the other end of the spectrum, what would you say is a guilty pleasure band that you find yourself only listening to when you are in the mood for that artist?
PK - Out of Step by Minor Threat; Destroy the Machines by Earth Crisis; Constructive Semantics by Endeavor. Those are probably the three I tend to fall back to every few weeks. On the "why the fuck do I listen to this?" end of things, twice a year I'll listen to late-period Orange 9mm.
H2W - And finally what is your idea of Misery?
PK - I don't know exactly. I work hard at turning miserable shit into constructive shit as quickly as possible. The thing that scares me the most is having a kid and working a straight job.
