Borgo Pass
(Picture taken from the Borgo Pass website)
The Goblin asked Tom from NYC sludgers Borgo Pass about a couple of things, check it out.
1. Hi and all that, bla, bla! Can you give us the Borgo
Pass history in brief,
where are you from and who you are and so on.
"Borgo Pass is a Heavy 5 piece band from Long Island, N.Y. formed in
1993.
Members include, Tommy (Guitars), Paul (Guitars), Joe (Drums), YT (Bass), and
Jimmy (Voice)."
2. How would you describe your sound to people that
for some reason haven't
heard you yet.
"Heavy rock laced with melodic sludge, blues overtones, and tons of
dynamics. A Roller-coaster ride of hard groove. To quote one magazine
"Audio Thorazine"
3. When you write your songs, is the whole band
involved in the process or
is there one person that comes up with all ideas, or is it maybe different
from song to song?
"The whole band contributes their own parts to the songs written. Most
of the time Paul and Tom will start playing riffs and then we'll start feeding
off what's playing and come up with our parts. As more time goes on we'll all
start to pick apart the songs and little by little it eventually comes together."
4. What's your main influences. Does the whole band
share the same taste for
music?
"We all can thank Black Sabbath as being one of our main influences that
brought us all together. Sabbath is our common denominator. We all have our love
for many different styles of music but the heavy stuff keeps us going."
5. What do you think of the term
"stonerrock", do you count yourselves as a
stonerband? Do you think the term is overused?
"Well, stonnerrock is kind of like Acid rock was in the late 60's early
70's.
This is what we all grew up listening to. We could be a "stoner band"
(as our friends and fans tell us our music is extra special when they smoke, and
we are (pro-pot), yet nowadays the stoner sound has very generic groove. We think
we are a little heavier than the Stoner groove sound. That's why we just call it
Sludge. As far as the term Stonerrock is concerned, we think it pigeon holes the
genre. Many people might not go near it (labels), although there is a huge
stonerrock community (more bands than any other genre) and we feel we fit in
there just fine, yet more of these bands, us included deserve to be heard on a
much bigger scale. There is some real kick ass shit coming from many of the
"Stoner Bands" and they should be heard."
6. What has the reactions been to your latest
release, any cool write-ups?
"Yea, "Powered By Sludge" has been well received by our fans
and has gained much much acclaim world wide. We have all the write-ups posted on
borgopass.com. The one we hold in highest regard is Netherlands Aardshok
Magazine. They voted "Powered By Sludge" one of the top 10 albums of
2000."
7. When I look at your website I get the feeling that you taking care of
business yourselves. Am I right? (It gives the viewer a personal kind of vibe)
"You are absolutely correct. We are a Low Budget band and all of us are
Blue Collar workers. We do not make enough yet to hire someone to design and
maintain the site so yea, we do it on our own. This is also good, there is less
confusion as what to add to the site (we know what we want). "
8. Are you signed to any label or do you run your
own?
"We are running things on our own. Loud Belly music is our own label.
We're the only band on it."
9. Are you planning any tour for the moment, and what
can I expect to see
when I go to a Borgo Pass concert?
"We have to record new material before we go on any tour. We want to
tour the U.S. as well as Europe. Japan is on the list as well.
When we do tour expect the show to be full of raw energy. Our live shows have
always sparked recognition."
10. Any new releases on it's way, and what's the
latest material like that
you have written?
"We are getting ready to record again. We might do a split EP with
another interest. Expect the music to still have the Borgo sound, but this time
a bit heavier, and more exciting."
11. Beer and pot OR Diet coke and veggies, witch alternative would a Borgo
Pass member choose?
"That's easy... Beer and Pot!!!"
12. What's your best BP memory?
"The best BP memory is when we opened up for the band Love Hate at
L'amour in Brooklyn. The place was absolutely packed and the crowd reacted in a
frenzy when we started to play. There was a huge mosh pit and we couldn't
understand why they were moshing to our lighter stuff. So when the heavier songs
were being played it was mayhem. Oh yea Love Hate did not like that to much
because the crowd was tired when they went on to play."
13. And what's the worst that happened, any nightmare
gigs or shit like
that?
"We've had a few nightmare gigs that did not go as well. The one that
stands out the most is when we played a club in Queens, NY. They did not want to
pay us after we had brought down close to 100 people, so we kind of tore up the
joint (we have a picture of a toilet with a beer bottle that smashed through it,
bottle in tact... nice shot YT). So it was a nightmare but it turned out to be
pretty funny too."
14. What's the story behind your band name? What does
it mean?
"We were originally called Slow Painful Death back in the day, but we
wanted a name that had more depth. Joe came up with Borgo Pass while reading one
of his books on Dracula (The Real dude). In the book he learned that the Borgo
Pass is in the Carpathian Mountains and was used as a means of escape for Vlad
The Impaler. It is still there today in Romania. You also see Borgo Pass in Bram
Stoker's Dracula as the passage way to Drac's Castle. (Dracula's Driveway)"
15. I must ask this question, It's a little bit off
topic but since you are
from the east coast(NYC, right?). How has the tragic last week affected yo I
mean it must have been horrible. What do you think about it, do you Think
Bin Ladin is the brain behind the Terror and how do think that US and their
allies should respond.
"Wow! Yea it does affect us all in one way or another. I work 7 blocks
away in downtown NYC and can still smell the smoke. I can see the rubble from
the roof of my building. The guys at my job saw the second plane head right for
our building and bank right into Tower 2 The plane came within 150 yards from
hitting our building, so that's imbedded in their minds forever. I just cannot
believe the Cowardly act that unfolded in front of the whole world on Sept 11,
2001.
Jimmy was on his way to the Twin Towers but was running late. He had a hell of a
time getting home.
We would all like to see Justice for this horrible act of civilian terrorism. We
now have to all be very careful of our surroundings. We hope to God there is a
quick resolve to all of this madness."
"You can tell ol' Osama... He can go and fuck his Momma!!!
What they did was really make our Country even stronger than ever. There is an
overwhelming feeling amongst us all here that can only be described as
Brotherhood.
I really couldn't say how this should be handled, but it will not be revenge and
cockiness, it will be Justice and Pride.
The world is the only place we have to live, so we should all come together.
This is not only a problem of the U.S.A. but the world as a whole."
...thank you Tom and I'll surely inform Mr.. Bin Ladin when I see him (In Hell).
Visit the Great Borgo Pass website
