Haggus is a mince core trio based out of Oakland, CA, USA. Haggus originally began out of frustration with the lack of grind/mince acknowledgment in the bay area. Despite the few active grind bands out here, no one gives a fuck about grind and mince core in this city - and we were fucking tired of seeing the same fucking "force yourself to like discharge" drones playing the same fucking mediocre, boring version of punk. So, we strived to play what we wanted to play, pure repulsive mince/gore, while still keeping the foundation based around the traditional punk sound.
We have gone through a few different line-up changes since the band's birth about a year and a half ago. Haggus actually originally started out as a one-man project, until we found our drummer Lil Giz, who was an impeccable fit. Since then we've been through a couple different bassists, first being Mincess, and now (and currently) McMince. The line up changes are simply due to a conflict in making our personal lives co-exist with the band's needs. We are all still on good terms and will remain mince core family for life.
Let me congratulate you guys, you finally start to work on your first full-length album! How many songs do you plan to stuff it? I have heardthat this album will be edited wildly limited...
Yes, we are actually finally tracking our first full length beginning tomorrow (Feb 6 2016)! The first full length consists of about 20 tracks of mince core, and is a compilation of our favorite tracks from previous releases along with about 5 new songs and 2 covers. We were originally going to just keep this to a limited lathe cut 12 inch, but due to popular demand and growing label interest, we recently decided to give this a full on 500 pressing on 12" vinyl. This should be heading off to the plant in a few months and you can keep an eye out for it's release by late 2016.
Well, a little bit about your work, which of the the splits are in work now? What will be ready soon? It seems you have some deals with Grindfather prod?
As always, we are constantly writing and recording. We strive to release as much material as we can - without repeating and re recording the same old songs. Right now, aside from the upcoming LP, we have a ton of releases planned, mostly splits. Up next will be splits with our friends in Agitate, Sulsa, Archagathus, Acid Feast and Girth. We also have some pretty exciting new, extremely limited lathe cuts that will be released sometime next week, actually we haven't even announced that we have these yet - so stay tuned for that! And yes, we do have some plans with a few different Euro labels in the near future. Grindfather Productions will be releasing a Euro press of our "The First Six Months" Discography tape (hopefully next week!) and Nuclear Alcoholocaust Records will be releasing multiple tapes for us overseas, including the 4 Sonx Demo, Mince The Meat Monger EP, The Masked Mincer EP and Mincecore Agenda EP. So, any European mincers should definitely keep an eye out for those!
You also have your own label Fuck Your Life records. Tell us a bit about this label. Use this moment and promote your own product, hehehe)))
Fuck Your Life Records is a small label that is run by our guitarist Hambone, based out of Oakland, CA. FYL focuses mostly on grind/mince/pv, although we have done some other styles as well. FYL was founded on January 1, 2014 and has 32 releases to date. You can find any Haggus merch, as well as a bunch of other rad underground grind/mince stuff in our store FYL storenvy We are always open to trades and love working with new and active bands, so feel free to write us at Fylrecords@yahoo.com for any questions.
Sorry for the stupid question, but what does your band name mean? Is there some story behind or it just has been thought up by goosey?
As many people know, Haggus is a vegetarian/vegan/animal rights orientated band. The real word "haggis" is a repulsive Scottish meat dish, which consists of a sheep's stomach lining filled with it's otherwise inedible organs. So, we figured it was appropriate. The reason behind the different spelling is because there is already a racist skinhead band called Haggis (now defunct) and we didn't want to be in any way associated with them or their right wing ideals. (A big fuck you to those wankers! Sue us!) Aside from vegan/vegetarianism and animal rights, we also feel very strongly against misogyny, specifically the blatant acceptance of misogyny and chauvinism in the grind core community. Porno grind is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by so-called anarchists and punk rockers. Replacing talent with undermining imagery and un-clever misogynistic song titles is just pathetic. Take that shit back to your mom's basement and fuck off wit yo bad self! Porno-gore is for virgins and metal attitude still sucks!
The tour with your friends Fiend was successfully completed. This year you are very active on live performances. Which of them are most remembered for you and why?
Yes, the tour with Fiend was absolutely amazing. We always have a fucking awesome time traveling and partying with those guys, and they are hands down one of the best, if not the best, grind band in the US right now. Cheers to Adam and Johnny! The highlight of the tour was absolutely Anti Border Fest up in Seattle. It was also fucking amazing to get to do 4 different shows with our homies in Catheter and Laughing Dog on this trip. All great people, and an all around raging trip. We have a bunch of other tours planned for 2016 and are hoping to make our way over to Europe with FIEND for a couple weeks sometime in 2017 - so anyone who is interested in helping out with that PLEASE feel free to get in touch!
Well, I just can not go past your appearance. What kind of image you are? All these balaclavas, whether is hot to play with them?)
Haha, the masks…. Fuckin' masks! We get this all the time, and yes, it is hot as fuck. Especially when we just played Phoenix and it was 108 fucking degrees at 11 pm at night. What in the fuck? But yeah, we have been sporting the ski masks ever since our very first show - to pay tribute to our idols, and mince core kings, Agathocles. It's also suiting that it's the look of the ALF and we are all vegan/vegetarian. Mincecore family worldwide!
"Fuck haggus….fuckin' masks" -Bassist of Big Idiot (Olympia, WA). One of our favorite quotes from tour hahahaha, cheers
Do you remember from what from what moment you began to love mincecore? And by the way why and from what do you have such a craving for corpses? Whether is a coverart but always with mutilated corpse)
We have all been listening to mince and grind since we were kids, and I don't see that changing anytime soon! I guess you could say that most of our album covers revolve around gore and corpses, but they don't call it gore grind for nothin. We simply want our artwork to be as repulsive and disgusting as our music, pure aural torture paired with the horrific visual atrocities of mankind. Gore or go home.
And if you look at the first steps of Haggus and what you have achieved today, what are the main differences in a positive / negative side would you mark?
The main difference between the band now and then would definitely be our discography. Having belched out over 10 releases in the last year we have definitely grown as musicians and as a band. We're still playing the same type of gore and do not plan on making any huge changes to our sound, just tweaking it and keeping fresh ideas in circulation. We have a ton of exciting releases planned for 2016 as well as many splits with some amazing grind outfits, so keep your eyes peeled and your gore holes open this year!
And back to the theme of making splits. What do you think why the grind underground so fond of doing splits? A And do you have on a sign an idol band with which you want to do a split?
In our opinion, splits are so common throughout our grind core community because we are all poor! There is no money in grind core, unless you are Napalm Death. Which we are not, haha. Therefore, the easiest way to get your stuff released within a reasonable time frame is to split the cost with someone! Whether that someone may be another band or a different small label, it makes it much easier for smaller bands to get their music on a physical format. Plus, when doing splits it keeps the process moving quickly, as there are now double the people to help promote the release, etc. This is turn leads to many new friendships and grind connections, which are an absolute must in this underground community. We are so thankful for any band, label or fan who has ever done a split with us, funded an album or even bought a tape at a show! We wouldn't be a band with all of you. Never stop mincing! Cheers!
That's all for this our interview is over, thank you very much for your answers, it was heck of nice interview!)
Thanks! A quick shout-out to...Jan/AG, Dan/Archagathus, Adam and Johnny of Fiend, Roy and Jesse at Mullet Death Records, Hitaam at Nuclear Alcoholocaust Records, Jacek at Grindfather Productions, Jesse at Nihilistic Despair Records, Carl at Acid Redux Productions, Trashy at Feel Good Grind Records, Jim and Acid Feast, Bob Plant, Pyosis, Agitate, Deterioration, Biocidio, Concussive, Andy and Isaac of Hyperemesis, Kerby and Austin of Girth, Horrendous Miscreation, Frank and Glob, Cole Gates, Mike and Trashy of Pizza Hi Five, Couple Skate boys, Cody and Lt Dan, Victor and Mardin of Excruciating Terror, Hefe and H Murda from Catheter, Peristalsis, Tommy Wilson and the Scum Human dudes, Your Enemy and all Oakland mincers, Graham Page for our logo (endless thanks!) and anyone else who we may have forgotten…we love you all! MINCECORE FAMILY WORLDWIDE.
Contact: Haggus fb Haggus bc fylrecords@yahoo.com FYL records
