Interview - Connor Donegan

Some time last year we came across a 7" by a local band called Protester and the two of us were blown away. It was crazy good and we wanted to know more about the band since it showed only one person being responsible for it. After a few months of laziness (on our part) we decided to find the man responsible for these crucial jams and ask him a few questions.That man is none other than Connor Donegan. Enjoy the read.

1) Name, age and bands that you're in. 

Yo! My name is Connor, I'm 21 years young, and I make music with Protester, Red Death, Genocide Pact, and Semper Eadem.

2) What attracted you to hardcore? And who is your favorite band?

Punk was the first type of music that really clicked for me as a kid. Before my cousin showed me Green Day, I didn't really have much interest in music aside from liking a few Beatles songs that my mom would listen to. When I heard bands like Green Day, Rancid, Good Charlotte, and NOFX I immediately loved how intense the music was and how it made me feel like a lunatic. I got obsessed and started digging deeper and deeper and got into bands like The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, and The Clash, then eventually stuff like The FUs, Jerry's Kids, Gorilla Biscuits, etc. Green Day has remained my favorite band for 10+ years. No other band has had more of an impact on me, and I love almost every fucking song they've ever written and still listen to them more regularly than almost anything else. 

3) You came onto our radar with the Protester 7" (which rules by the way). Correct us if we're wrong, but you did the recording all on your own. Writing, singing and playing of the instruments. Right? How did that all come about? 

 Yeah, I play everything on the recordings. That whole thing came about because when I started writing the Protester demo I was living in North Carolina and people there arent really as into the X-Claim/early Rev stuff, plus nobody I knew was straight edge and I really wanted Protester to be an edge band. I decided to stick with the one man band recording formula just for simplicity's sake. It was easier to just get everything recorded as fast as possible before I started to hate the songs, ya know?

4) What's your favorite part of touring? And what was the best thing you ate while being on the road? 

I like everything about touring man. Getting to see new places, meeting tons of cool people, eating badass food, and obviously playing sick shows is the kinda shit I love to do. It's hard for me to pick a favorite thing about touring but for me it's probably all the sick food haha. My favorite places I've eaten at on tour are definitely La Reyna in LA, Pappy's BBQ in St. Louis, and Yambo in Miami. All of those spots are fucking ACE.

5) You guys get into any trouble on the road? Trouble with the law, fucking around at stores, houses, rest stops etc...

Haha not really. We're a pretty tame group of punk rockers I'd say.

6) What's the craziest thing you've seen on the road? 

I saw a guy die at a Wendys in Austin once. That was pretty fucked up. Me and my friend Ace saw this dude chilling in the bushes outside of the Wendys, then we went in and came out 10 minutes later and he was getting zipped up in a body bag. Super weird. 

Let me interrupt this interview for a second to say HOLY SHIT! Saw a guy die?! Fuck! 

7) What's the groupies situation like? Who's the ladies man?

Haaaaaa, nobody. Unfortunately I don't think playing Hardcore and Death Metal is really a super attractive thing to a lot of people... Haha.  

8) What do you listen to when you're not listening to hardcore? Maroon 5? One Direction? Taylor Swift? 

As of late, Oasis, Accept, and Trap shit like Zona Man and the new Boosie record have been in constant rotation. Oh and the new Royal Headache record. That shit is amazing.

9) If you could tour with any band that you haven't toured with already. Who would it be? 

Easy answer. No Tolerance.

10) Do you follow the Redskins and what do you think their record is gonna be like this season?

I like Football, but I'm honestly way too much of a space cadet to really follow sports. I used to be way better about it and I'm trying to get back in the game but we'll see what happens. I definitely hope the Skins have a good season but after watching a lot of the games last year I'm really not too hopeful... My guess is they go 5-11, which is better than they've done the last couple of years so lets see what happens.

11) What do you do for fun?

I've never had fun in my life. 

 

(Who couldn't have fun being in these bands?)

 12) What bands should two shlubs like us be listening to? 

Locally I think Stand Off, Pure Disgust, Turnstile, and Give are all killing it right now and if ya'll haven't checked those bands out yet I'd definitely recommend it. As far as out of town stuff goes, I think Blazing Eye, Fury, Chain Rank, Ajax, Barge, Impalers, Depths Of Reality, and Blood Pressure are all really great new(ish) bands doing cool shit. 2015 is a great time for Punk and Hardcore no doubt about it.

13) Any last words or shout outs?

Thanks for the interview! DC Hardcore rules. Shop at Joint Custody. Peace!

Many thanks to Connor for taking the time to talk to us. If you all haven't heard the bands that he's in, just mosey your ass on over to Bandcamp and look them up. Then drop a couple of bucks, download the music and be prepared to rip your face off. Props to another swell guy from the D.C. scene for keeping it real.

D.C.S.