Once again, I'd like to introduce you to an incredibly sick band from Long Island.
Ineptitude is a hardcore trio from Nassau County, featuring members of bands like Silenus, Burden of Life, and Draft. They just dropped their first demo with Street Fight Records at the beginning of the month. Raw, brutal and real, their metallic roots as musicians come through strongly, with inspiration and influences coming from bands like Death and Metallica, all the way to hip-hop artists like MF Doom. The result is five absolutely destructive metallic hardcore songs that you need to listen to, now.
I spoke to the members of the band - Josh, Jaime, and Skyler - to get a little more context on how Ineptitude became a band, what went into putting out the demo, and Long Island hardcore in general.
AA: Introduce yourself with your name and what you do in Ineptitude.
SR: I’m Skyler, I play guitar in Ineptitude, and I also tracked bass on the demo.
JM: I'm Jaime, I attempt to do vocals, I'm not good.
JR: I'm Josh, I play drums.
AA: Who played your first hardcore show? What influence did that have on keeping you involved in hardcore?
SR: My first hardcore show was Bane, Turnstile, Backtrack, Power Trip, Jukai and couple others at Revolution in Amityville back in 2015. I loved the energy of it, I hadn’t felt anything like that before. I left the venue that night wanting more of what I felt.
JM: Got to see Madball and Merauder at New England Metal and Hardcore Fest in 2016. That Merauder set was lit. Jorge was throwing shoutouts to Madball the whole time too. Love that.
JR: I've never been to a hardcore show, but I did see Billy Joel once.
AA: How did Ineptitude come to be as a band?
JM: I remember riding my bike around Freeport and bumping into Josh, not literally, who was also riding his bike, and I just remember us talking about music and what we had been up to. since we hadn't seen each other or really spoke since like middle school. He mentioned wanting to meet up and play music, or something like that, and we kinda just messed around until we just said “fuck it” and tried to get more people involved. We did that for about half a year, and then we met Sky.
AA: What are some of your influences, musically and lyrically?
SR: Chuck Schuldiner from Death and Cliff Burton from Metallica have always been some of my biggest influences. I listen to a ton of different stuff though, and I like to take little bits and pieces I like and make them my own so I can get something that reflects what I like in a way that feels original.
JM: Lyrically, all my inspiration comes from personal experiences. I also have to give a shoutout to all the hip-hop I listened to growing up. Guys like MF DOOM and Aesop Rock changed my perspective on how lyrics can be written. Then, of course, there’s my discovery of the hardcore scene.
JR: Phish, Draft, Poor Choice, Candiria. Lyrically? I don’t really know what that means... Billy Joel NYHC.
AA: Which song on the demo means the most to you and why?
SR: That’s a good question, it’s tough though since I love everything on it. For me, I’m tied between “Regain” and “STD.” I can’t choose between the two.
JR: Wait, that came out already? “Regain,” because the part at the end is really cool.
JM: Honestly, I hate picking favorites, so I'm gonna say all of them, because I suck, but also because they're all meaningful in their own ways.
AA: I see that your vocalist Jaime also did the demo art - what inspired the design?
JR: I don’t know, he didn’t tell anyone, but I think it has something to do with Dababy.
JM: It has something to do with something Josh told me one day, about what Ineptitude means. Something about being dead. The artwork is a picture of a mannequin, and I can’t remember if I've ever seen a mannequin on an album cover. It's a little deeper than that, but I guess I'll let the music tell the rest of that story.
AA: How has it been working with Street Fight Records to put out the demo?
JM: Street Fight Records? Oh, you mean Stephen Kielb? He's really on top of things and gets shit done. That dude's a nutjob, but he's a brother for life. Also, shoutout my brother Hartmann, Silenus, Shackled.
JR: Yeah, Stephen really loves his neighbors.
AA: Are you guys involved in any other bands, past or present?
SR: Me and Josh were in this project Burden of Life for a little while last year, we put out a demo but that band didn’t work out for various reasons I’m not gonna get into. Aside from that, I’ve been in various bands that aren’t worth mentioning, due to not lasting more than a few practices.
JM: Ineptitude is the only band I've ever been in. Been writing other stuff for another possible band. but nothing concrete yet.
JR: Yeah, but I can’t tell you about it, because the singer goes to another school, but seriously, we all played in Draft.
AA: If it was completely up to you, who would you want to play your first show back?
SR: We’ve played a couple shows already, but if I had to choose someone to play a show with, I’d love to play a show with Sanction. I love that band, and playing a show with them would definitely be a highlight of my life.
JM: Shackled, Silenus, Alone in Contagion, DRAFT, Regulate, Hangman, Roseblood, FLATLINE, Contrast of Sin, Incendiary, Pain of Truth, Typecaste, Soul Provider, Jab, Cipher, Jesus Piece, to name a couple.
JR: Probably my band.
AA: Do you have any future plans you’d like to talk about?
SR: Nothing specific really, just looking forward to playing shows once they come back on a regular basis, and making new connections.
JM: I'm just tryna look like 2006 Dave Bautista.
JR: I'm really looking forward to my 401k growing. I put a lot of money in Dogecoin, but I pulled out too early.
AA: Any last words?
SR: Shoutout to Shellshock Audio, those guys do killer work.
JM: Yeah, shoutout Chris Rini. Shoutout Nassau County, New York. Fivehundredsixteen. Fuck that place, but it's also home.
JR: Shoutout Romeo’s Chicken, shoutout Everett, Kevin's tattoos suck, shoutout Ima and Vito, I really want another boat... Fuck Braccos.
Massive thanks to Ineptitude for doing this article with me. If you’re interested, you can grab a shirt here, and/or grab a tape here. (Both are running low, so get on that.)
Additionally, if you’re interested in keeping up with Ineptitude in the future, you can check them out at their social media below:
Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
Listen to "The Demo" on Spotify below:
-Angie
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