The Hitching Post

Here is everything there is to possibly know about Audio Poison; A SoCal “crack rock steady” project, and their new EP.

With my ability of being related to this person, I went out and conducted an interview with Sulphate of the grindska band, “Audio Poison,” to get any fun details about the project itself, its formation, and the release of their new EP, “Anti-Ska Hell.”

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The full interview was conducted on the grounds of OCC, and is written below:

Q: What even is Audio Poison?

A: Bad, that’s what it is– Audio Poison is a music project that I’ve been working on since 2020, at the earliest 2019. That’s when the concept first arose. In its current state, Audio Poison is a grindcore/ska fusion band. I call it “anti-ska,” other people call it “anti-ska” or “grindska,” but it falls under the “crack rock steady” umbrella. (Or whatever you want to call it).

Q: What genre does Audio Poison fall under?

A: “Crack rock steady” is the subgenre/microgenre that I play. People like to fight over what exactly it is. Even the people who created the genre fight over what it is. Generally, though, it’s just a mix of hardcore, crust punk, and ska.

Q: What made you want to do Crack Rock Steady/Audio Poison?

A: With Audio Poison, I just wanted an outlet to make music, and—I don’t know, that’s just how it ended up being. With crack rock, there was just a natural evolution in my music getting more and more extreme, and this is just where it is right now with the grindcore/ska/crackrock thing.

Q: Where did Audio Poison get its start?

A: The first thing that you could call “Audio Poison” was just a kind of joke thing that I was going to start with two or three other people. It never got beyond the planning stage, but it was me on guitar(s), this guy named James (I think) on vocals, and we had like, 2 horn players. It was gonna be a two-tone ska, like, “The Specials meets Mr. Bungle or Butthole Surfers” type of thing. It was weird, and I thought “Eh, I just have this placeholder name (because I think I had a list of band names)” and I was like “Ehh- placeholder.” 

The first real incarnation of Audio Poison, it was; I just got out of a band who primarily played covers of Green Day and Rob Zombie. The bassist, who initially showed interest, mainly played shoegaze and indie and emo stuff, and we were coming together at the time to make music that kinda sounded like Mindless Self Indulgence because that’s what we wanted to do at the time. I believe it was summer 2020. 

Q: Elaborate on your discography:

A: The first thing that I ever put out as “Audio Poison” was some stuff on SoundCloud that’s like lost– It’s not lost to time because it’s on “The Dark Ages” compilation that I put out recently. The first release on the Bandcamp was a single called “NRA,” which was a Sex Pistols type thing, because that’s what I was listening to at the time. I hate it, I don’t like it, it’s lost to time. 

The first real release was the “KKKalifornia” demo. That is, five songs that I’ve written between the beginning of the band and when I started recording in October 2022. Not much I can really say.

Next, after that, it took a year, but I put out another demo called “Sex With Domestic Terrorists.” Wonderful title, I know. The “Domestic Terrorists” demo was really the start of the crack rock sound, even though it sounds more like Operation Ivy or The Suicide Machines than it does like Choking Victim. That’s most evident in songs like “Butcher Shop” or Hitler Beach.” 

After that, I released like, random singles, random covers every now and then. After the Domestic Terrorists demo was the EP called “capital is a virus… kill it.” That was just two songs that I recorded in like, a day– not even a day, in like, an hour. 

After that, 2 singles, and then “The Dark Ages” compilation, which was everything prior to “KKKalifornia” minus “NRA.” 

After that was a split I did with my other project, which I’m no longer working on, called “Eureka Effect,” covering Corrupt Vision songs. Then, after that, my latest release, “Anti-Ska Hell.” 4 songs, 6 minutes.

Q: What is Anti-Ska Hell?

A: “Anti-Ska Hell” is me trying to actually write “anti-ska,” like the grindcore/ska fusion stuff that Corrupt Vision is making or other bands on No Time Records. It was me trying to write more aggressive lyrics and trying to get more comfortable with more wordy songwriting, I guess.  

Q: Give me an overview of the EP:

A: Track one, “Kaycee (Officer Down)” it’s a song about the police. That’s really all I can say without being put on a list. I don’t like cops, if you can imagine. So, the song is about just, not liking cops, putting it… very vaguely. Very mildly. 

Next song, “War isn’t hell.” It’s just a d-beat song about war. That’s really all it is. I wrote it because I don’t like the term “war is hell.” Because I don’t think you have people using children as human shields in hell. I don’t think you have children being blown up by artillery in hell, you know?

The next song is “Carpet Bomb (It’s only fair).” It’s a song about blowing up Wall Street, pretty much.

Track four, “Self Hate Games” is a TX2 diss track because I don’t like TX2. I think he’s annoying, pretentious, and a grifter, a trend hopper. Yeah, TX2 diss track, not really much to say about it.

Q: Favorite track from the EP?

A: I’d say either “Kaycee” or “Carpet Bomb.” Those ones are fun. I’ve always liked recording the ska ones. 

Q: Favorite track from the discography? 

A: Favorite track(s) that I’ve just made in general… “The Ballad of Gary Plauche,” “Trantifa Death Squad,” both off of “Domestic Terrorists.” There are ones I’m writing right now, but I can’t say anything other than that.

Q: Any random trivia?

A: The logo, the “AP” logo, was a deliberate ripoff of the Dead Kennedys logo. I wanted a logo that you could draw in 4 lines or less, and for that (the “AP”), it was easy.

“Listen to my music—or don’t. I’m not legally bound to do anything, you’re not legally bound to do anything.” 

–Sulphate, concluding the interview.