Implicit Bias: The Future of Hardcore and Thrash Has Arrived!

Implicit Bias: The Future of Hardcore and Thrash Has Arrived!

Implicit Bias is the future of hardcore and thrash – a young band based out of Los Angeles you may not know just yet – but you will.  With influences such as Suicidal Tendencies and Minor Threat, Implicit Bias bring their own brand of creativity and sheer energy to the proceedings, and the results are absolutely devastating!  Featuring two members of Seaside Screams – another absolutely amazing band on the rise – Implicit Bias is ready to bring on the sonic intensity to epic proportions.  With super explosive live shows and a debut EP on the way, Implicit Bias is destined to slam your music world into the stratosphere.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed Implicit Bias after a photo shoot with the legendary Jack Lue.  Read on…

Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in Implicit Bias.
Julian: I’m Julian Crawford and I’m the singer.

Adrien: I’m Adrien Cruz Jones– I play drums.

Bodhi: I’m Bodhi Younger – I play guitar.

Jem: I’m Jem Renaud and I play bass.

Where did the name Implicit Bias come from?
Julian: Our drummer said the word in a sentence, and we thought it sounded cool – and the meaning works. So honestly, I think it’s all based around that. It’s just kind of meant to be.

Where is your band based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
Adrien: We come from Venice.

Julian: We’re mostly out of West L.A., but we play East L.A. sometimes we play Hollywood – we play around. I’d say we’re based out of West L.A. and Venice though.

I recently saw your band at the L.A. Food Bank for Fire Relief Show. What was the highlight of playing that particular show?
Julian: I’d say honestly you coming out. It was one of our better shows. We had a fun crowd. The bands were good. But you coming out was a good time and having that review. We really appreciate that, man. Thank you.

Let’s talk about a few of your songs. Solider – what was the inspiration behind that one?
Bodhi: We kind of started off more heavy metal-ish – and then we wanted to get even heavier and faster. I just started writing my riffs a little bit more metal inspired.

Julian: Soldier in particular was kind of like a turning point for our sound specifically – cuz we were writing some stuff before that really didn’t sound like the stuff we play today. And Soldier was one of the first songs that we wrote that defines the sound we have right now.

And what is Soldier about?
Julian: It’s about my ex-girlfriend. (Laughter)

How does that fit in? Soldier? Ex-girlfriend?
Julian: There’s a lot of metaphors, but it’s kind of like being trapped and working for something that you don’t feel like you should be – even affection, but you don’t feel like it’s good for yourself. And it’s kind of like being a Soldier to somebody and fighting for somebody.

Wishing Well. Tell me about that one.
Adrien: I wrote those lyrics. Those lyrics were honestly pretty random. I kind of just said things that sounded cool. There is this one line – “I drowned, and they buried me above ground.” I had recently learned about places that were technically below sea level – I think New Orleans is technically below sea level – so they gotta make weird grave contraptions to bury people above ground – it’s like weird, fake, artificial graveyards. That’s where that line came from. Other than that, the lyrics aren’t very in depth – they’re just things that sounded cool.

Julian: Wishing Well is actually one of the first songs we wrote, though. It’s the second song we wrote when we started the band two years ago. Bodhi wrote the riff, and we just started working off of it. But that was one of the foundations for us writing our music I’d definitely say.

And I picked Apple Bees to chat about.
Julian: This is one of our newer songs. We just wanted to go straight beatdown, a slam kind of song. We put the Pacer Test sample over it. I’m sure a lot of people won’t understand this, but if you’ve been in high school for the last five years to now, you basically have to do this test where they make you run back and forth – and it’s like a fitness test for P.E. – and you get graded on it. There’s a voice that’s in it – and we sampled that over our song. So, it’s all based around that. And that’s one of our newer ones.

Adrien: It’s just meant to be raw power and to push the person next to you.

Julian: We used that sample and thought it would be a fun time. It’s based around it a lot.

What could one expect from a live Implicit Bias show?
Julian: A lot of energy. Sometimes things could get a little rough. Just a good time – a lot of energy – a lot of power.

Adrien: Expect to be thrown to the ground – picked back up – and then thrown back on the ground…

Julian: … if you’re lucky.

Jem: It’s a lot of fun.

Bodhi: I think definitely you could expect a lot of aggression – a lot of energy – angst.

So, for the two guys in Seaside Screams, how does Implicit Bias differ from your other band?
Julian: We just really wanted something that we could get all our anger out in. Seaside is a great time, but it’s more focused on 90’s grungy stuff, but it’s just like slightly more mainstream. We just wanted to start a project where we could do whatever we felt like and just write the music that’s really coming to our heads first. And it’s been a good time. Me and Adrien – we wanted to play different instruments and have the freedoms to do that. We wanted to do something where we could get out our other musical talents in.

Adrien: The main difference to me is the professionalism. I love Seaside Screams and it’s great – and it is more mainstream, like Julian said. However, I also love music because it could be whatever you want it to be. And if I want to act fucking stupid, then I would like to do that.

Julian: It’s just about making the music that we feel like making in the moment, and I think that Implicit is a great outlet outside of Seaside.

Adrien: It’s music no matter what it is. Just music for the sake of music.

If Implicit Bias could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Julian: I think Suicidal Tendencies would be awesome. I think maybe Refused could be awesome. If we were talking like old – Minor Threat I would say – maybe Bad Religion.

Adrien: As of right now, maybe a basic answer – but Knocked Loose all the way! From the past, Minor Threat honestly sounds like so much fun. Suicidal Tendencies – I’m saying that same thing he said – but those classic hardcore bands.

Bodhi: I think something like Backtrack or Gorilla Biscuits would be awesome.

Julian: I think Jem – he’s a really good friend of ours, but he doesn’t listen to that much heavy music. He plays in the band – he has a great time – but I don’t know if he’s going to say anything. Give it a shot.

Jem: Dying Fetus! I like the name and they’re heavy as balls.

What’s up next for Implicit Bias?
Julian: We’re trying to record our EP right now. We’re in the midst of it. Expect that somewhat soon. A lot of trial and error…

Adrien: We tried to record one time- just like in his garage…

Julian: …like a year ago…

Adrien: It was working out until it just wasn’t. It was bad. We just didn’t sound good.

Julian: We’ll have something out soon. It will be a good time. We’re working on it. And we’ll be at The Lot in East L.A.  on April 19th.

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Jack Lue)

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