Hearing from Harry, the 17 year old guy in charge of Methodist Leisure Inc, last month really inspired me to find out a bit more about sistas that were doing it for themselves, and by sistas I don’t just mean black ladies, I mean everyone.

Harry told me about a 20 year old guy he was doing a split tape with called Alistair, who made punk songs on his own in his bedroom in Glasgow under the fantastic moniker of Streets Of Rage, the greatest game to ever be officially licensed to play on Sega hardware ever.

I listened to the music he made and realized it was pretty much exactly what I’ve wanted hardcore/punk to be for years: the tinny sound of frustration, joy, anger and bratty humour played on whatever equipment available.

A friend of mine in a popular London hardcore band recently got flown to America and given a forty thousand pound advance to make an album with a big American hardcore label, using guitars he got for free because he’s sponsored by some guitar company now. I’m happy for him and I know he still ‘means it’ and is still angry and hungry, but how is anyone meant to not feel intimidated by that? Streets Of Rage sound like how fucking annoyed I was with everything at 17 and its recorded on a hi fi by one guy who doesn’t take care of his hair. Isn’t that way more exciting to listen to than

Also, as a total bonus, this guy is even giving away the whole of his most recent CD-R, Beat Your Kids, via Platform. I’m putting the link at the end of the interview so you’ve got to read it all. I wouldn’t be able to do that if he was on a big American hardcore label, their corporate lawyers would sue.

What’s it like being into what you’re into in Glasgow?
It’s cool. I’ve got some great friends here. There’s always shows to go to, always somebody to hang out with. I really hated living in Glasgow for a while. I didn’t think there was anything good going on but I was pretty wrong. I’m still not as into it as a lot of people are, but there’s a lot of cool stuff happening. Plus when you think about it it’s like where else would I live?

What was it like growing up there?
I had a fun time. The music and cultural landscape or whatever didn’t really have much of an impact on me when I was younger though. I didn’t care about any bands from Scotland or stuff like that. A few good friends got me into a lot of really important stuff. There was this dude when I was 14 or so who told me about Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Zappa. A little later on this other guy would tell me about In the Red, the whole noise rock deal, and sorta underground music in general. Then came DIY. Now I’ve gone full circle and listen to all the shit I listened to when I was 14 again. A lot of great bros. A lot of great times.

What do you sing about?
Chicks and friends. There’s one song that’s about my dog and one about not being able to get a suntan, but I think every other song is either about chicks or friends.

Is what you’re doing arty or is it just straight up punk?
I dunno. It’s straight up in the sense that it’s sincere but I’m really not a legit punk so I don’t wanna pose. I guess the DIY/underground/art/whatever crowd is kinda who I hang with but the music I make is like my personal form of punk. I’ve played a few hardcore shows and the punks seem to like it. I thought it’d just be like “what the fuck is this shit?” but they sorta accept it which was a total surprise.

What bands inspired you to do what you do?
Gay Against You. I used to go to pretty much all their shows when I was 17. I hadn’t seen anything like it before and I loved it. Running around, jumping on people, screaming, amazing costumes. They put on the best shows I’ve seen, and they were my first exposure to good music from Glasgow too. I had no idea any of that shit was going on then all of a sudden I found out it was happening every week. They’ve always been pretty untouchable in my head but a lot of people up here don’t think much of them. They deserved way more of a rep than they ever got. Ever since I saw them all I wanted to do was play shows and make music.

How do you make your tracks?
I record on my hi-fi. It can only really take one overdub before everything starts to sound really distorted and fucked up. So I do the drum track and guitar at the same time then plug in another tape player to do the vocals over the top.

What do you do for fun?
I hang out, go to shows, watch TV. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of guitar. I want to get really good so I can play in a thrash band. Like tapping, sweep picking, pinch harmonics. All that shit. I think that’s a pretty long while away though. Give me a decade and it’s gonna be like first wave Scottish thrash. I’ll get my own signature guitar and just fucking rip every single night.

Are there lots of DIY shows in Glasgow?
There really are. There’s always a couple every week. My friend puts on a lot of them now as Cry Parrot and he does a killer job. He always has an insane amount lined up. Right now he’s got Ariel Pink, John Maus, Hawnay Troof and a bunch of other stuff lined up. Then there’s Unthank who take care of the punk/hardcore side of things. They get some amazing bands in, like Career Suicide, Logic Problem, Social Circkle. But yeah, there’s always something. There’s a lot of different people doing the DIY promoter thing and a lot of other people who do one offs or whatever. It died down a bit over summer but it’ll probably pick up again soon. For a while shows were pretty dead but they’re starting to get busy again.

Have you ever put any on?
I’ve put on two in total. The first one was for this awesome local band called Jackie Onassis. They were so rad. There were only like 20 people there maximum but Rick, the singer, gave it all he’s got. They put on a great show. I loved it. Then I did this other show that I put waaaay less effort into. There was a bit of a scare at the start where it was like there were only 4 people there. It got busier though and the bands were good so it all worked out fine. That was with Blue Sabbath Black Fiji and Louts.

What else is going on that’s diy in Glasgow?
Aside from the music scene? I think there’s a whole lot of other stuff but I don’t really know much about it. This guy just put on a week long festival called GDIY that was all about all the stuff we’ve got going on. I had a lot of university work though so I didn’t really go. Yikes. I know there was something about like guerilla gardening. Lots of tours around the city too. And something about wood recycling. Yeah, you’re asking the wrong guy.

What other good bands are from Glasgow?
There’s some pretty sweet stuff right now. Jackie Onassis. Pure punk rock rippers. They fucking slay. Ultimate Thrush. Hardcore jams. When a mosh pit kicks off at an Ultimate Thrush show nothing else beats it. Rocking out. Crowd surfing. It’s so fucking awesome. Louts is badass too. He makes ridiculously neat beats that you get totally captivated by. He plays a monome live and you always find yourself staring at it watching the patterns the whole time.

Do you ever still play the Megadrive?
I can’t man. I lent my controllers to this guy like 2/3 years ago and I never got them back. I really should though. I miss that babe.

Have you completed Streets Of Rage?
Fuck yeah. Loads of times. I think like the bit at the end where you get to choose whether or not you wanna stay good or turn bad was a pretty big moment for someone who played it growing up. All the other games just give it to you the same way, you kill the bad guys. Streets of Rage though, it’s like, “think about it bro”.

Download Streets Of Rage’s ‘Beat Your Kids’ CD-R here, but if you’d rather pay money get the nice artwork and stuff, email alistairclark89@googlemail.com.