In a country where we are so brainwashed by our government and its policies that we’re boycotting country-pop acts, it’s refreshing to hear a group that’s taking some chances all the while sounding like some of my favorite bands. They take those influences and mold them into something all their own with a heavy dose of sincerity. That band is Charge.

By the time you read this interview Charge will have crossed the country, settled on the West Coast, built a studio, initiated a new guitarist, written 10 new songs, and played a couple of shows. Talk about drive and determination.

This interview took place in the comfort of Giri’s (vocalist) former New Jersey home. We engaged in some herbal remedies, watched a little “Graffiti Rock” (if you’re not up on this DVD I suggest you run to your local Best Buy and indulge in this piece of Hip-Hop history), and engaged in some pleasant conversation about life and music. These dudes are on some next shit so read on and enjoy the ride.

Dominicanedge: Could you tell me a little bit of history regarding you and your involvement with the band.

Giri: There’s one pivotal point in my life where I was at a crossroads and needed to explore new things. I had gotten kicked out of my high school. I got sent to a reformatory program across town. I wasn’t a bad kid or anything. I just needed some redirection. When I go to this school I got encompassed with that whole conscious hip-hop vibe. The whole band thing came together when I met my best friend, Shawn Z. (plays bass for Charge). He was like an outsider, thinking on his own, just doing his thing. I connected with him. So he starting dropping all of the punk and hardcore that he was into. I was kind of exposed to it when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I just couldn’t decipher the beats and the rhythms at the time. It sort of sounded like noise to me so I was just like “whatever.” But. when he flipped me “Blood, Sweat, and No Tears by Sick Of It All and I heard KRS-1 do the intro on that shit (intro to It’s Clobberin’ Time). That right there made the connection I was just like “Holy Shit!”

Dominicanedge: Did the band get together from this point on and it’s just been progressing?

Giri: Not really. This band was sparked by the moment that I got that record. It’s been brewing since that point in my life. I look at that moment as one of the pivotal points in my life, getting exposed to hardcore. Where I am in my life now was spawned from that instant. As far as what happened with Charge…I always had this desire to play the music, but had no former training as a musician. I think the music and rhythms are part of your soul and being in tune with life and the earth. It all has rhythm. It’s just a matter of letting it out and create with it. But anyway, we start playing together about a year ago. I met Steve, who plays drums, at this local tattoo shop. We got together and jammed and everything was clicking. We were on the same page with the funk/rock type vibe. It was fun and it was a way to get some freedom. Then I had this drive to get Shawn down with whatever I was doing. I had to have him with me. The two of us have this vibe and energy that’s just a natural thing. That’s my boy right there. I got him to pick up the bass. When he first started playing he played with one finger. We’d call Joe Fill or something. He wound up getting the hang of it after a while. After we decided that we wanted to do hardcore I got in touch with this other guy I knew named Dan. Then we met Brian and he became the second guitar player. We saw him and he looked like someone we can vibe from. We just wanted to know what instrument he played. We went outside and he had Fender stickers on his car. It was like someone had handed him to us. We told him that he had to be down with what we were doing. And now we have such a great friendship with him. That was basically it. That’s how it started.

Dominicanedge: When you hear Charge you hear the obvious influences…Burn, Absolution, Bad Brains. Do you feel like this is something you want to consciously embrace or is it something you see yourself deviating from in the future?

Giri: I gotta drop some science on this whole thing. We (Charge) have listened to all of those bands. For myself, Absolution and Burn were the top bands. I never got to Absolution but I saw Burn plenty of times and those guys were sick. I felt like they never gave me enough. I was always waiting for a full length or something. As far as our sound is concerned, we wanted our influences to influence us but we wanted to be ourselves. But this stuff (Burn Absolution, Bad Brains) is just a natural vibe because that’s where we came from. When we first came out, with that vibe, we wanted to almost pay tribute to it. Because what we were listening to sounded nothing like what people these days call hardcore. It just had this tribal sound and it inspired me. I had to come out like this. It was always what I was feeling. I don’t know anything else.

Dominicanedge: So Charge is moving out to California in a month or so, and you are hooking up with Vic (108, inside Out, Beyond) who seems like a perfect fit with respect to your mutual spirituality. What does the band hope to achieve with the move and the new addition to the band?

Giri: I guess the first thing we want to do is gel with Vic. Musically we click but more importantly we click on a real level. We all get down like family. We fight sometimes and we get upset with each other but we have a real connection.

Domimicanedge: Did you know Vic previously? And how did he become involved with band and your move out West?

Giri: Everyone knows that Vic is a Hare Krishna, if not one of the more famous Hare Krishna’s in the music scene. We were really inspired by him. Shawn and I actually became Hare Krishna’s because of him. We got really into being Krishna. I actually got initiated. That’s where I got my name Giri from. He happened to be someone who was a major inspiration for us as devotees. I remember he would come to my house and give classes. We’d go see his band play. We were always sort of drawn to the guy. When we found out he wasn’t a devotee anymore and we started talking to him more we started seeing another side of him where it wasn’t intimidating to ask him to be a part of what we’re doing. We kind of almost felt the same. He’s just a guy, a nice guy.

Dominicanedge: Your songs definitely touch on the spiritual side. Could you go a little into your spirituality and how it affects the band and the music.

Giri: I’ve always been connected to the idea that there was a God. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t accept God. Through my life trying to get closer to him and just understand what my relationship with this creation is I became a Hare Krishna. I got into it late in High School and it was kind of connected to the hardcore thing. I got into hardcore music and the Krishna thing was in the hardcore music and that was naturally a path I would’ve taken. I was attracted to that aspect and these guys were speaking about the truth. Anyone could judge if they were or they weren’t like the Cro-Mags, Shelter, and even 108. Like those guys were dropping knowledge on things that were on little bit of a higher level than kids that were complaining about their social scenarios like getting stabbed in the back by their friends, or losing a girlfriend.

Domincanedge: The classic hardcore themes.

Giri: That’s cool man, because I’ve experienced that. I guess the stuff that I was drawn was stuff that was going to take me to a higher place. We started hanging with some other kid that was an older hardcore kid who was a Krishna also. We got into the Krishna thing. We all went through with it. I went through a divorce and a major change happened. It went through it until I met my wife now and started to become more the person I felt I was on the inside but I had to bury away. Then I started getting into my own thing but I felt spiritual life was the most important thing and I didn’t think you had to be a follower of any particular type of religion to recognize that and still maintain your spirituality. The spirituality that comes through in Charge is this idea that we have of just acting on the world in such a way that we want to be treated. Treating others with respect, treating the planet Earth with respect, treating humanity as a whole with respect and giving them back what we’re really looking for which is peace and love. A little bit of knowledge. We’re not trying to push where we’re at with it. We’re not trying to convert the world. We’re just trying to spread the love and give people some positive information and something to look forward to like living life.

Dominicanedge: With that said how do you feel about what’s going on in the world right now and our roles in it?

Giri: Everybody who has the opportunity to have a public voice should utilize that for whatever they feel is driving them. You can say that I’m give that opportunity through his band. It’s not strictly political or spiritual. It’s an idea that we’re trying to push of positive consciousness. The political climate we’re in is going back to Reaganomics. People are suffering.

Dominicanedge: If you were teaching a class on music culture and you had to pick 5 records that were indicative of our culture what would they be?

Giri: Every time I do things like this I always wind up going back and being like “I forgot about this one.” So I’m just going to go with whatever comes in my head…1) anything from Bob Marley, there’s no one record; 2) the first RUN DMC; 3) KRS-1, “By Any Means Necessary; 4) Public Enemy, “It Takes A Nation of Million…”; 5) Led Zeppelin 2.

Dominicanedge: What was the first show you ever went to and the first show that moved you?

Giri: The first show I ever went to was Bad Brains with Chuck Mosely (on vocals), Leeway, and the Might Mighty Bosstones at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. The show that moved me was the first time I saw Sick of It All. I can’t remember the exact show but I remember two distinct times that they were just insane. I had started going to hardcore shows after that Bad Brains show but the first SOIA live experience was insane.

Dominicanedge: How does it feel being a person of color in the hardcore scene?

Giri: I never looked at other people in the way. Like that’s a white guy, that’s a black guy. I just felt like a kid who was here like the rest of the kids. But I definitely remember this black kid that had this crazy afro. He was one of the sickest dancers. I’d often be watching the band and watching this kid. He’d always be wearing this Raw Deal shirt. In popular music you don’t really see any dark faces but in hardcore you see people crossing over. I felt like anybody can get down with this if they wanna.

Dominicanedge: On the demo you hear different musical elements (like congas). Are you going to continue to utilize those elements in the future? ***Insert Giribangs and charge-giri&steve photos here***

Giri: When we write a song we get the vibe of the song. Stylistically we can play what we wanna play and we will. If we wanna do a song that’s reminiscent of a certain style, we’ll do that but we’re still Charge when I lay down some congas because I’m feeling that.

Dominicanedge: Any last shoutouts?

Giri: Thanks to all of the local band s that hooked us up, all of the kids that get Charge. Thanks to Jah, all blessings come from Jah.