The mere mention of Hot Cross among a certain subset fans of hardcore fans is sure to entice an unfathomable amount of foaming and drooling. This reaction is probably due, in no small part, to the band's all-star lineage, which includes ex-members of hardcore veteran bands Saetia, You and I, Off Minor, Neil Perry, The Now, and Joshua Fit For Battle. For some, the enormity of this revelation will entice knowing nods, pangs of anticipation, sweaty palms, and some will even abandon all poise and restraint for fits of celebration.

But musical cynics who've been bitten one-too-many times by the "ex-members" bug, will stand steadfast, unwilling to make a commitment until the music is in hand, and swift, sound judgement, from one's own two ears, is able to be rendered. To the later, consider this: if you are pregnant, have a family history of heart disease, or have high blood pressure, I strongly consider avoiding Hot Cross' A New Set Of Lungs or their split 7" with Light The Fuse and Run at all costs.

Hot Cross is a break-neck, 0-to-light-speed ride, consisting of slash and burn guitars, whiplash rhythms, and no-holds-barred vocals. This is the kind of music that kick starts your deepest passions and heart-sicknesses with an unhealthy dose of straight-to-vein chaos.

Bettawreckonize caught up with Hot Cross vocalist Billy Werner to discuss the band's history, how technology has made the hardcore community a small world, stage fright, and their upcoming cross-continental tour plans.

Interview conducted via e-mail by Tim Anderl.

Name: William Werner (vocals)
Band: Hot Cross

Bettawreckonize: Under what circumstance did you join Hot Cross? Wasn't the dude from Errortype 11 the original singer for Hot Cross?

Billy: After Saetia broke up and I moved to London for graduate school I thought I was done with bands, if not forever than for a very long time. In keeping in touch with Greg, I heard the news of Hot Cross getting together and writing some songs. During the course of these conversations, I must have vented a lot about being homesick and disappointed with my academic program overseas, and simultaneously and quite coincidentally I was asked if I was interested in doing vocals for the band upon my return home. I had been writing a lot, and had pages of lyrics to use. A couple of weeks later a CD-R of what turned out to be an instrumental version of the entire New Set of Lungs E.P. was sent to me and I had vocals and lyrics ready to go as soon as I got back.

Adam from Error Type: 11 was not the vocalist and I think he only attended a few rehearsals before he realized that ET:11 was too time consuming to allow him to do another band.

BW: Who else is in Hot Cross?

B: Greg Drudy plays the drums, Matt Smith and Casey Boland play guitar and Josh Jackobowsky plays bass.

BW: Does Josh's schedule with Neil Perry and Joshua Fit For Battle conflict with what Hot Cross is doing?

B: At times it has, but never in such a way that was detrimental. Everyone in these bands are friends and easy going people. That's the advantage of working with friends; there aren't very many petty conflicts...most of the time.

BW: Is there backlash associated with the members of Hot Cross having been in Saetia, You and I, etc. Do people hold Hot Cross to a higher standard because of involvement in those bands? Do you get tired of references to former bands?

B: I wouldn't say there is backlash, but there was definitely a ton of hype surrounding the band in some circles. The hardcore scene is cursed with the burden of nostalgia and young people feeling like they missed out on something. As a result you get a lot of people putting bands on pedestals and elevating bands and music to mythic proportions. Saetia and You and I were simply friends that toured and played to an average of like 20 people a night when we did so. We couldn't even sell all the T-shirts we made for those tours, and now they are selling for exorbitant amounts of money on the internet. It's odd to me. I think people definitely held Hot Cross to a high standard because of previous efforts, but at the same time I would like to think we have exceeded those standards by doing something different and not really thinking about what everyone was expecting or hoping for.

BW: You mentioned that Saetia shows had an average attendance of about 20 or 30 kids. Has the number of people who "get" what you are doing grown with Hot Cross? Is it important to you to be well received or perceived by listeners as relevant?

B: The number of emails we get from people and the general positive response to Hot Cross has been pretty overwhelming. None of us really expected the band to catch on as much as it has.. and yea, i mean its nice to realize that people are taking notice of our band and enjoying it, but we also enjoy just getting together and screaming at each other for a couple of hours each week.

BW: I read on-line that your first show with Hot Cross was done on a pretty tight deadline -- you returned from studying abroad in Europe on Monday, practiced with them for the first time on Wednesday, and played on Friday. Didn't that make you nervous?

B: To some extent, only because I was afraid my voice wouldn't make it, since it was the first couple of times I'd screamed into a microphone in about three years. But all turned out OK! I actually like flying by the seat of my pants.

BW: Did already having been in a band with Greg Drudy and Matt Smith help lessen the blow of introducing you into Hot Cross?

B: Yeah, but I will only be in bands with people I am already friends with.

BW: I've also read that while in Saetia you played with your back to the crowd? I remember seeing other bands in the mid-nineties that presented themselves that way. Was that a product of the musical environment or honest to goodness stage fright? Do you still play with your back to the crowd?

B: I did it because I have pretty severe stage fright. I either face sideways or the band. That's also how we practice, so it's just what I am used to. After playing so many shows, you'd think I'd just be able to face forwards, but I still can't.

BW: On the songs that you are writing now do you write lyrics independent of the music and figure out how to apply them to the music later?

B: The lyrics are written completely independent of the music and I work around the songs after they're written.

BW: How did Hot Cross choose Jonathan Kreinik to record "New Set of Lungs?" Are you doing your upcoming recording with him? Is that still scheduled to go down in January/February?

B: Greg was working with Jonathan's band Pines of Nowhere and had cultivated a nice relationship with him. He offered us a nice rate to come down for a weekend and record and it turned out amazingly well. He was a lot of fun, and bascially let us do what we wanted. Unfortunately our schedules are clashing at the time we are due to record the LP, so instead we will be working with Eric Rachel at Trax East Studios. The session is scheduled for the first weekend in February.

BW: What will the new record be like?

B: Hopefully it will reflect the different ways we have evolved as a band and as individuals. The main goal is to create a full work, rather than put together a collection of songs. We have already discussed ways to incorporate different instrumentation than we normally use as well as wrestling with the song sequence.

BW: Where do the ideas for your lyrics come from?

B: Mostly personal experience and various interactions I have with people on a daily basis. If think that if your ideas don't evolve out of the personal, you are doing the listener a disservice.

BW: I noticed that you are a student. What are you studying? Do you feel that school is a necessary ingredient of education?

B: I am doing a Master's program in Arts and Humanities Education. I think the importance of school is really up to the individual. I suppose you get out what you put into it. There have been times in my life when everyday experience has taught me more than school ever could, and there are times when school opened my eyes and consciousness to things that I may not have found on my own. I guess it varies from person to person.

BW: From the looks of your web page you've been having a lot of problems with show promoters lately, right? Do you think that this is due to the expanding popularity of hardcore -- have hardcore kids always been unreliable and flaky or is this a new phenomenon?

B: I don't think you can generalize to the point of reliably saying that kids involved in the scene are all one way or another. I think in any scene you have people that are experienced and know what they're doing and others who are not really on top of their game because they get into things that are a bit over their heads. There are good sides and bad sides to having a scene that emphasizes the power of the individual to take things into his or her own hands. People need to realize that a certain amount of responsibility and maturity needs to be used to exercise that power. You live and you learn I guess.

BW: Are all of the members of the band located in New York? What are the most positive/fun D.I.Y. venues in New York (New Jersey, Philly) to play?

B: Definitely abc no rio in New York city.... its just been there forever and has so much history and has survived all kinds of changes, whether they be the culture of the lower east side of manhattan or the governement of New York. I've.... it is still a thriving space and I encourage everyone to have a look at their site (www.abcnorio.org) . In new jersey its really hit or miss.... there used to be a thriving basement show scene, however most of the kids involved either graduated college or just moved on. In Philly, Mike Dailey and Sean Agnew are responsible for about 95 percent of any DIY shows that go on and they both do an amazing job.

BW: Do you think the scene is tighter or more expansive now than it was when Saetia was playing?

B: Tighter. You can thank the internet for that. It takes about 10 seconds to book a show and promote it. The internet makes the scene a lot smaller.

BW: When Hot Cross toured Europe who did you play with, and what were the shows like? Were you playing mostly squats or were you doing clubs, houses....?

B: We toured with a Norwegian band called Kaospilot that has done a record with Level-Plane. A lot of the shows were in squats, but squats there are much different than the American conception of squats. They really invest a lot of time and money into their venues. Most sqauts there had professional sound equipment, lighting and stages, which is odd when you are used to playing in basements most of the time.

BW: It seems like the few "punk rock" squats in the U.S. I've had contact with are pretty unorganized and temporary? Is this different in Europe? What ingredients make that kind of situation work (what is the difference between American and European squatters)?

B: The squats in Europe are way more like regular venues. It really blew our minds.... you'd have a huge stage, pro monitors, a full sound board, a huge loud P.A., pristine mics. It was just amazing. those people work so hard and just have a lot of space to work with. The sleeping quarters / living area would be upstairs from the venue. people just seem to respect what they have so much more. The same can be said for the governments in the countries we played. They kind of really did let "the kids have their say," in that context. The people who squat these spaces just sink a lot of time and money into their spaces. They quietly work towards their lifestyle rather than simply making a political statement, and in doing so they say more politically than kids you see here throwing bottles at cops.

BW: The CD/EP for the Hot Cross/Light The Fuse and Run split came out on a Japanese label, right? How did you get hooked up with them (both the label and Light The Fuse and Run)? Do you have plans to tour Japan?

B: Sonzai is the name of the label. Tetsu from the band Envy has been in touch with Greg about working with Level-Plane, so a relationship was established with him through the label. He is really supportive and is enthusuastically into Hot Cross, so it is easy to work with him. Light the Fuse and Run are just some friends that we've played shows with. A split seemed like a good idea since both bands share ethics, but sound so different. It turned out really great.

We are planning on touring Japan with Envy and City of Caterpillar for about 12 days in April.

BW: I noticed there were a lot of problems with getting that split out? Why?

B: The first master of the Hot Cross recording was pretty bad, so it took some time to get it remastered and sounding like it should. Once the new master was sent to the pressing plant, they sent us a test press which had the bad Hot Cross master on one side and the good Hot Cross master on the other side. After phoning them, they told us this was standard when plates are remastered and that they were aware this was supposed to be a split release with two different bands. Well needless to say, the 1200 records were pressed with Hot Cross on both sides.. Kent from Ebullition phoned Greg to tell him and we had the plant redo the entire press. We had to get all new label art and its just a long drawn out process. Plus, back before the mastering was even a problem, there was a delay with the artwork. All in all, everything that could have gone wrong did, and as such the record came out months after it should have.

BW: Do you think music has gotten more or less emotional as "emo" and "hardcore" have garnered more attention? Why or why not?

B: I think a lot of emotional and passionate music is being made, it just might not be as easy to find as the less sincere and trite music that is becoming immensely popular. I get frustrated when people are quick to claim that there are "no good bands" or "no more good records." 2002 was a PHENOMENAL year for music….such great releases and great bands doing outstanding work.. People get lazy and they feel like things should be immediate and handed to them, rather than having to really search for a great record. Everyone is spoiled by choice and as a result, has become really jaded. Whether or not mainstream media and music fans are paying more attention to hardcore is irrelevant. There is always SOMEONE paying attention. What matters is whether or not we, as a community are going to waste our time paying attention to them.

BW: Who are the people that influence your outlook as a lyricist, a member of a hardcore band, and just as a person?

B: This is difficult because there are so many people I look up to. I guess Guy Piccioto, Rainer Maria Rilke, Salman Rushdie and Djuna Barnes are the first writers and lyricists that come to mind. I constantly look up to people that I love, which is one of the reasons I love those people in the first place. Being able to learn from people is what influences me most in pretty much everything I do.