Dissecting the Great Minds of Our Time aka PART ONE.. the discussion

When I think of a pioneer of what has become a standard in our scene today, I think of Tim Borror. It was through his diligence and perseverance that allowed a lot of bands who influenced the generations before this one to continue to not only play in proper venues but be accepted on good tours and treated like other bands in other genres of the music industry. He is responsible for so many great tours that it’s a bother to list them off. Needless to say at one point or another he’s booked the last 5 of your favorite bands. In fact aside from all this muckity muck about his hardcore accolades, I find it most important that he is the one man who could bring Demons and Wizards to the United States… :P
In all seriousness, I am proud and honored to call Tim a friend. He has an encyclopedic mind of all things hardcore, yet he is still a razor sharp business man that is legitimately the only guy I know who skates so close to the Dark Side but is still at heart a Jedi. Without his patience and willingness to lend an ear, I know I would be quite a few steps behind still, he is a mentor in many ways and has schooled the likes of Robby Redcheeks all the while still being able to be a bad influence to a whole new generation of kids.
His Interview in PART ONE is the beginning of a lengthy discussion series I will be posting on the blog in regards to my treatise “50 Days…” Its time to engage people, who have lived, loved, lost, worked, fought and nearly died for the core. Its time to procure from these tomes of hardcore knowledge some things discussed in “50 days” and ultimately try to use their words as a reference to what is possibly “missing” from today’s hardcore. I don’t know if that is the true depth of what I want to do with these discussions but for now lets run with that philosophy and I will keep posting interviews as they come in.



There seems to be a void in sincerity and concentration in Hardcore if you ask me.
I’d like to hear what you’d like to see kids focus on?

Real music. Music from the heart, music that is different than what’s been played 5 million times before and only re-done by kids copying something that’s already been watered down by the millions of bands that did it before them. Where are new bands breaking trends and starting new ones or being so good that no one can even jump on their band wagon? Into Another, Burn, Quicksand. There hasn’t been a revolution in hardcore like that era since. Even if its a familiar style play it from the heart. Bands that I love and still listen to like the Cro-Mags, Sick of It All, Madball, Terror, Judge, H2O and others while, they may not have been so original musically, they played with such heart and wrote music from their soul that it was original in its own right. I’m not saying there aren’t any bands out there like that today, I just wish they where getting more credit so they’d be more widely paid attention to. The only bands I hear about are myspace buzz bands with no dirt on them that are being developed out of current trends and not from bending rules.

Where is there too much focus these days?
Fashion.

What made you start booking bands?

It was an accident and I figured out that I was good at it. I needed a job, didn’t want to operate in any world other than music. Someone gave me a band, a desk and phone and said book a tour. From there some of my friends in real bands asked me to book them – Vision, Killing Time, Sheer Terror and they introduced me to other bands and pretty soon people knew me as a booking agent.

Do you still have the same motivation to do it now as it was then?

I’m a lucky motherfucker. I get to do the one thing that I’ve loved the most since I was 13 years old. I go to shows and make a living to care for my family from doing so. I’m just as motivated but different things about it motivate me. I like finding new challenges and I love discovering new music that is head and shoulders beyond what the competition is. After 27 years of going to shows every week its all harder but its still great when it works.

Who in your eyes is the #1 band you ever booked and why? Who was the worst?

At any given point I’ve loved and hated everyone of them. I don’t know how to give a good answer to this. The only bands I’d say are the worst are the ones I can’t remember. I’ve had to much fun with most of the rest to really say one was better than another.

Could you ever see yourself truly being happy doing something else?

Fuck yeah. This job is a grind. Its one of those jobs where everything feels like its the most important thing in the world and everything is now now now. Its stressful and 24/7. I’d rather own a fishing pier or a bar. I’m glad I have this career and I’m not giving it up but its not real life sometime and its hard on a person more than you’d think.


Is there ever a time where you feel like a “fan” and not a mover/shaker?

I feel like a fan all the time. I love music and I love what music can do to people in audience watching a great band and that electricity that goes on. That’s a main reason I’ve never let go of this job. I’d rather be a guy standing in the crowd watching the crowd and the band than the guy talking to promoter about who sells the most tickets.



As time moves on certain customs of our culture are dying out. Which custom would you like to see get a rebirth in 09?

Here’s a tricky answer. I miss the threat of violence and fear. Its tricky because I don’t like hearing that kids get beat up at these shows. That sucks and what is so life changing at a hardcore show that kids need to get beat up, its fucking stupid. That said, I lived more than my share of that culture and lifestyle and there is something that is so great about the adrenaline you can feel at a show when that feeling is in the air. I miss small clubs with good PA’s and stage dives. In 2008 there aren’t any good little dive clubs anymore. Every other place that is around for the most part is to concerned with liability. There are so many reasons why what I grew up in with music will never have a chance to exist anymore. Most of what I miss I see in some kids now and what I miss has mostly only to do with the fact that I’m older now and can’t hang with my friends 5 out of 7 days a week.

If only for aesthetics, what do you miss most of all when you walk up to a show to when the first note of the first band hits?

Anarchy. I miss show anarchy.

I want you to name 5 bands that mean nothing to anyone the way they mean to you and why.

Into Another, Throne of Corruption, Beyond Control, Warzone and Verbal Assault. 3 of those 5 bands are just awesome.

Into Another is one of the most underrated band from any genre’s of music.

Warzone – legit street music.

Verbal Assualt has a record called Trial which I’ve listened to probably more than any other record ever made rivaled only by the cro-mags, murphy’s law, leeway and the bad brains.

Throne of Corruption and Beyond Control – talk about bands that mean something only to me... That was my band and my friends bands, my crew in general. The bands probably sucked but great fucking times where had

At the end of the day when you’re sitting on your porch with your lemonade and your grand kids are asking about your life, what do you share with them about your time in hardcore?

Kids will never see what I saw. Show anarchy is no joke. Going to the troc when you wouldn’t necessarily get thrown out for fighting with the bouncers. Stage diving was an all show every song sport. I’ll also remember the nazi’s. That was no joke either especially in Pennsylvania. You went to a show in the late 80’s and early 90’s, you where going to see some legit Nazi Skinheads. In fact, while I hate racism and nazi skinheads or hate for anyone for any generic reason like race or sexual preference or any stupid reason like that, I miss skinhead culture – somebody bring that shit back! This is a question I could go on for days with answers on. I’ve got a million stories that feel like only me and my friends lived. The great thing about hardcore back then was that there where 1000 other packs of friends who had similar stories too.


I need the roster of the super hardcore band. Give them a name and tell me what they would sound like.

The band would be called GO FUCK YOURSELF! I don’t sweat anyone from bands enough to know who would be in the band but hopefully its some negative dudes with a positive message about living outside the lines. Maybe John Joseph and Freddy Madball could be in this band.

What is the most fundamentally important aspect of hardcore that you see drifting away? How do we fix it?

I was always the kid who cared to much about other people and thought everything could be fixed that was wrong in the world. Hardcore was about screaming for change. Change outside the world but what I really got out of it was change within yourself. I was a total fucking asshole when I was a kid, a lot of what I am today is still a total asshole and hell raiser. On the other hand I’ve got a great family and I’ve pushed myself to be something in life and I’ve accomplished a lot. Even still every day I want to push myself further and I remind myself to try and be a better person and less of an asshole. I remind myself that I was the kid who cared about everything that was wrong with the world and I urge myself to get back in touch with that person and be about making change outside of my own world too. I picked that up from my parents and how I was raised in the beginning but hardcore took over from there and I credit a lot of who I am from that kind of ethic. Scream for change and I hope its not something that hardcore has taking its eye off of. If it is, I don’t know how it can be fixed but bring back skinheads, straight edge kids with x’s on their hands and the hare krisna movement. Bring some culture into the music beyond the fashion and uniformed haircuts and tight pants some of these kids wear now.


And now the counter to that, what is the latest element to hardcore that you find to be an insult to all you love and dear and when does it end?

There is no way to answer this question without it making me sound old. I think the the thing that bums me out the most is that kids seem to start bands now with the reality in mind that they think they will get big as a band. What happened to just starting a band to hang with your friends and to yell about some shit? Your band sucks and you won’t get big, try enjoying each others company and hang out. I really do hate that about bands now. Everyone has the music business figured out or at least they think they do and its allowing for everything to be so watered down. I’m insulted by that for sure.


You were instrumental in many great tours which lead to so many people seeing bands that would have otherwise stayed unnoticed. What tours are you most proud of being associated in creating and what bands do you pat yourself on the back for helping and why?

I wouldn’t pin this on any one moment. I have very proud moments about being involved with music every month and I have since I was a kid. I love discovering the music and then helping that music get discovered on a broader level.



This is the pic that comes up when you google image search Tim Borror. It does not do my friend's devilishly handsome good looks and statuesque physique justice. I can only say that its the best I can come up with right now. So in advance- Sorry Tim...