Philly hardcore stars Paint It Black may have fans across the country, but that doesn’t equate to a glamorous tour.  “We camped illegally in some park overlooking the ocean,” Dan Yemin reports of his recent trip to Santa Barbara, California with his band.  “None of us wanted to deal with staying in a hotel,” Yemin rationalized.  “Andy, our bass player, correctly presumed that if you ask the Food Not Bombs guy where you can get away with camping illegally, he’ll know, so he directed to us this wildlife reserve.  We went in there at one in the morning and set up our tents by cell phone lights- a juxtaposition of nature and technology.”

An informal tale like this is part of what makes Yemin such a daunting figure.  One minute he’s a dude with big muscles recounting his band’s exploits, the next he’s theorizing about the roots of America’s homeless epidemic, speaking eloquently on any subject with his prudently radical vocabulary. Yemin’s dissatisfaction with our nation is expressed with fury in his band’s raging anthems, which promote political and personal consciousness.  “Hardcore is part of a long tradition of American protest music,” Yemin explained of the genre his band prescribes to.  “In that sense, it’s a sort of folk music.”

Vocalist (certainly not singer) Dan Yemin started his musical career with Jersey band Lifetime before moving onto Kid Dynamite.  He currently resides in the Fairmont neighborhood of Philadelphia and works on the Main Line as a youth psychologist.  Bassist Andy Nelson has been with Yemin in Paint It Black since its formation in 2002 and has equally impressive credentials.  Guitarist Josh Agran and drummer Jared Shavelson have joined in more recent years and their past connections suggest a veritable Delaware Valley hardcore mafia.  “There’s a lot of inbreeding with Philadelphia bands,” Yemin admits, “and that’s a good thing.”

It’s safe to designate Paint It Black, which gathers its name from a song by Philly punk legends Ink & Dagger rather than who you’d expect, as the mascot of Philadelphia hardcore, even if they have some trouble with the label.  Yemin says, “We’ve asked each other as a band if it’s even a viable term anymore.”  He defines hardcore as “a kind of music based on speed and aggression in its original form, an artistic response to suburban boredom and alienation and Reaganomics.  That’s the traditional meaning.  At this point, I would say that half the stuff I hear that’s marketed as hardcore isn’t hardcore to me.  If that’s the case, I’m not sure what the utility of the term is, except as shorthand to describe your musical heritage.”

The Reagan years emit a specter that looms over Yemin’s oeuvre.  “The first show I ever went to in ’84 was a band called Reagan Youth,” he recalls, “drawing a connection between Reagan and the Hitler youth.  I got into the music about the same time as I was realizing how disturbing the agenda of the Reagan administration was and what it represented in terms of American priorities and consciousness.” 

Pant It Black has plenty to say, but often the biggest threat to their innovative message comes from within; especially at live performances, it is easy for the band’s aggressive sound to cover up the lyrical content.  Yemin recognizes that it is hard to express his ideology at live shows, full of stage diving and moshing, not exactly the traditional terrain of veganism and queer rights.  The conventional justification of this is that fans of the live shows will then purchase the album and get the lyric sheet, but now with rampant downloading, it can be more difficult for the band to communicate.  Yemin says that this has presented a complex issue to the band; “I don’t want to encourage people illegally downloading our record, but if people aren’t going to buy it, I’d still like them to have the lyrics.”

“I’m never going to see any thing from sales,” he explains, “but its devastating independent record labels, and that’s just going to hurt us in terms of the ease of which more challenging artists are able to get their music out there.  It’s killing indie labels and the coolest thing about punk was when people from that scene could be self-employed and make money off their stuff.”   

Paint It Black seems to be making some moves out of the confines of the genre ghetto.  Taking the stage after poppy duo Matt and Kim at the F-Yeah Fest certainly expanded their audience; Yemin says such mixed bill shows are his favorite.  This makes sense, coming from a band with influences clearly beyond hardcore.  “The hook has to come from the vocal cadence, the phrasing, the laying down of syllables over time,” Yemin explains his vocal obligation, “and really as an art form, the place to seek the masters of that trade, listen to the best MCs from the past 20 yrs, from KRS One, to Chuck D, to Nas…”

Critics have pointed out the hip-hop influence in the band’s latest album New Lexicon and Yemin is keen to draw parallels between hip-hop and hardcore.  Both genres are inherently rebellious towards predecessors, he says, a trait that is itself a tradition, paradoxically.  “None of us wants to make a generic punk record,” Yemin elaborates.  “We keep challenging ourselves to take it in new places without becoming a total departure from the form.”

This sonic evolution has made Paint It Black hard to swallow for some hardcore communities.  “We’re not a simple band to like,” Yemin notes without pretension, “and in places that are a little more culturally removed we’re not as easy to digest.”  The band’s fan base is located primarily on the east coast, “from Richmond to Boston” as Yemin puts it, though big West Coast cities have been receptive as well.  Yemin also reports good experiences in Chicago and Canada, though he has no plans to flee the city of brotherly love anytime soon.

“I love the architecture. I love the fact that it feels cosmopolitan but on a much smaller scale,” Yemin recites his attraction to Philadelphia. “I can bike anywhere I need to be within twenty minutes. I love the fact that young people with modest incomes can afford a home.” With no hesitation he proclaims, “We have the best independent music scene in the country here. There’s more and more stuff coming through of a greater variety.”
Paint It Black works closely with R5 Productions, going so far as to shun any Clear Channel venues after the conglomerate’s harassment of Sean Agnew’s DIY promotions outfit.  “R5’s been really persistent and they’ve been branching out,” reports Yemin.  “More bands are interested in doing DIY shows, not just punk bands.  A lot of people making music come from this background, where independence was important.”

In addition to avoiding Clear Channel venues across the country, “We won’t accept a show that’s 21 and up under any circumstances.  It’s a long standing tradition, a really positive tradition, the concept of access to everybody.”  The band has gone so far as to vouch for underage fans at shows that require accompaniment of a guardian. 

Yemin wants the younger generation to have the same exposure to the outlets that inspired him during similarly grim political times.  Even though many things around him going wrong, Yemin doesn’t believe in hopelessness and is sure the next generation will pick up his message.  “Music has the power to inspire,” he assures us.  “I don’t know if music’s going to change the world in the grandiose way that the hippies or punks thought it would, but it has the power to change individuals radically and then it has an impact on the world.”