MICHAEL COFFEY of STONE VENGEANCE interview from THE UNITED KINGDOM!

....For interview website, CLICK HERE-
Q) HEY GUYS, hows it going? Fine, Thank you.

Q) Could you introduce yourselves for the children? Well, My name is MICHAEL COFFEY founder, vocalist and Guitarist of STONE VENGEANCE. I will be answering the questions in this interview. ANTHONY STARKS is the Bassist, vocalist and CO-songwriter with me. DARREN TOMPKINS is the Drummer and Vocalist.

Q) How did Stone Vengeance meet and form? ANTHONY and I were friends years before the band came together. I was 12 years old and he was 8. I started the band at age 14 in 1977, with some High School friends and others I grew up with. My bass player Anthony Starks was 4 years younger than all of us. When he asked to join, I had some reservations, but I let him in anyway. I changed the bands name to STONE VENGEANCE in 1978. My drummer Darren Tompkins was hired by me in 1983 after five previous drummers.

Q) I had a seriously awesome film idea for you guys, but there are far too many eyes scanning this interview right now. I want to talk about the cultural importance your group has - growing up with your race and being involved in one of the most influential music genre's is a serious symbol for music. When you first started out, how were you perceived? Did that ever matter much or effect your music at all? Well, we can discuss your Film idea in private. Yes, everything mattered to me! I appreciate, your asking this kind of question, because I know other Blacks in Metal or Hardrock music either will not answer a question about Race, dodge the question, act as though they don't know they are Black, or they are just some scared to death Uncle Toms! My audience expect me to answer with truth! I respect the intelligence of my audience and know they don't want to hear me talking like I'm living the life of a White Rock band, when it's apparent we are not! We have to go back to the late 1970s early 1980s to understand the very conservative Ronald Reagan era environment. Yeah, I grew up hearing that crap in school "just work hard and you can be whatever you want to be, "That Lie, is used to keep you off guard and uninformed to what the truth is, '"the Color of your skin matters!" In 1981 MTV would not play any videos of Black Artist! Only, after MICHAEL JACKSON'S record label threatened to pull all of their other Artist from rotation, MTV gave in. You see, Black is negative in the Western world. Not only are White people aware that we were their Slaves, Black people were taught for centuries to Hate Black. I remember, having long conversations with the Late WES ROBINSON of RUTHIES INN, he said "when he was younger, a Black person could not call another Black person "BLACK" those were fighting words! That being said, coming into this music was never easy for us. We were perceived as being crazy by both Blacks and Whites for the most part, but there was always a few Blacks and Whites that gave us a listen and liked what we were doing. There is a book coming out in your part of the world THE UNITED KINGDOM called "Heavy Metal
Controversies and Countercultures" With a chapter on us called " Black Metal Soul Music: Stone Vengeance and the Aesthetics of Race in Heavy Metal" here is the link- Click here- Heavy Metal!

Q) Did you guys ever feel a disadvantage with your race? Do you feel as though your success was hurt with it, or is the genre too drawn to the music rather than the image of the band? Well, being Black didn't HELP us in this business, that's for sure! People see Color when they look at a band, especially in this Music. Some people say "we were ahead of our time" that's only true in that, these days, people are a little more used to seeing a few Blacks in Rock. This was NOT the case in 1980, trust me. Of course, we were at a disadvantage from the start, before we were born. Myself, Being a student of History and since you are not from the USA, let me tell you how deep the disadvantage of being Black goes! You see, in 1865 Black men in the South were about 90% of the tradesmen after Slavery. Blacks had built over 66 towns, and America was wealthy, especially from COTTON! In 30 years of Blacks picking cotton in the USA, this added up to more wealth than 500 years of mining Gold Worldwide! in 1877 President Rutherford Birchard Hayes, in what is called "The Great Betrayal of the Negro" or "The Compromise of 1877" effectively ended the period of Reconstruction. That's how Black people in this country got FUCKED! It was now United States policy to remove all Federal Troops from the South that were protecting the ex-slaves and force them back to the cotton fields. Blacks were not allowed to leave, Ferry Boats and trains were threatened to NOT take Black Passengers, the KKK was let loose, Black towns were being burned to the ground and Lynching's were going on every week, to force Blacks back to the cotton fields. Then, here comes Samuel Gompers, he founded the (AFL) the AMERICAN Federation of labor, to keep Blacks from working, using their talents as tradesmen, because they could not join the unions. So, back to the cotton fields for the Blacks and open the flood gates for the European immigrants to take over the trade jobs. Imagine, building a town, then, having it burned to the ground by Lynchmobs, men, women and children being shot at by machine guns and not being able to go to the police or insurance company, you are just FUCKED! Well, this happened to Black Americans, way into the 1960s and it was Official United States Policy. So, it's not enough for Black People to Keep up, we have to actually, catch up first. I guess, deep inside, I knew we were not going to be treated the same as a White ROCK or METAL band, but I really didn't think it would be this difficult just to play the music you like. When we were in GERMANY, I had a long talk with one of our Fans and he said "You guys are a miracle band" I understood what he was saying. He knew as well as I, that a band is Not supposed to survive as long as we have without: a loyal local following, very little access to the better clubs and venues, no record label or distribution, no tour support, coupled with being Black! Yet, this man in GERMANY recognized all of this, that, to me, is amazing. Some may ask "why talk about the past what does that have to do with today? America remembers the past everyday with the lessons in school or TV about History, also, every year in the 4th of July celebration. So, the past affects us all.

Q) I heard you guys talk about your influences which cross genre's from; R&B, Classic Rock all the way to some Hip-Hop, in this day and age who/what is Stone Vengeance listening to? These days I'm listening to: BOSTON, SAM COOKE, BLACK SABBATH, THE SPINNERS, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON, AL GREEN, IRON MAIDEN, LED ZEPPELIN, TED NUGENT, DIO, AC/DC, BAD COMPANY, FREE, VAN HALEN, SCORPIONS, THIN LIZZY, JUDAS PRIEST, THE BEATLES, THE EAGLES, HEART, SON HOUSE, MUDDY WATERS, NWA, and all the older music I grew up with. I am very out of touch with most of the modern music.

Q) Talk us through some of your darkest moments in your music career? OK, for me 1987 is the start of me realizing we were being left behind and written out of the history of the SAN FRANCISCO Thrash Metal Movement. A lot of younger Bands that we influenced were getting record deals ahead of us, Bands that we played shows with who were always in our face telling us how much they loved us and how great we are, would not say SHIT about us in their interviews, but praised Bands that they were feuding with or actually secretly Hated. Record labels would send me letters of interest to sign us then, freeze on us when they discovered we were Black. A friend of mine called me years ago about a Film being done, and they were looking for a METAL band for a scene in it. He gave me the Casting Directors number. I said to him "I don't think, they have in mind a Black Band for that role". Anyway, he urged me to audition, but I was not going to waste time driving to TREASURE ISLAND for nothing. So, I called the number the Lady was nice and told me to come over, I said we are a Black METAL band, she then said "oh, I'm sorry, but that would be making a different kind of statement." I could see, we were getting less of a benefit than newer bands, from the Metal scene we helped to build and support. One example: in 1985 a double compilation LP called "EASTERN FRONT LIVE AT RUTHIES INN" was recorded by WES ROBINSON. I was urging him every week, for a year to put the Record out, because at the time he was getting way too HIGH on drugs and was not doing anything with the recordings, they were sitting on the shelf. I had told RON QUINTANA of METAL MANIA MAGAZINE about it and in 1986 the Metal fans were already primed for the LP because thanks to me telling RON, he had put the word out a year in advance. So, the first 50,000 pressings sold out in the LOS ANGELES area alone. We had to wait for the second pressing to get it in SAN FRANCISCO on vinyl. From 1987 on into the early 1990s it seemed to get worse for us in our personal lives. A curse, on the WIZARD, the WARLOCK, the NECROMANCER, the foul WITCHCRAFT of the DEVIL that sat in a LAB a made that CRACK COCAINE! Then, put it in our community! It was like living in a horror movie! Watching friends and neighbors lose their minds never to be the same again. I had a girlfriend that was hooked on that shit and I could not help her, I tried hard! Still, the REAGAN ADMINISTRATION made a profit off of our misery and secretly gave the money to the CONTRAS supporting the War in Nicaragua. It's really sad when others look at the BLACK community and see some of us in this Savage condition. They don't understand that: when you take a people 9,000 miles from their homeland, take away their Religion, their names, their GOD, deprive them of learning to read and of knowledge, then, the trauma of 310 years of violence, allowing them no control over their own bodies and teaching them to Hate themselves. How do you expect them to act? Civilized? You treat a person like an animal that's the way they will behave!

Q) I heard one of your band members, Anthony was it? (forgive me If i am mistaken), was in hospital recently, how is he doing? Yes, He is on the mend and recovering. His dumptruck at his job had complete brake failure, going down a steep hill and flipped over. Here is the news link to read more about it. Click here- Dump truck overturns at bottom of Sharp Park Road!

Q) Over the span of 30+ years - how do you all personally feel about what you have accomplished? Over 30 years and still going, is success in one sense, to survive being underground below the radar. We all feel we have indeed contributed to the Metal genre in a unique way, that's for sure. We have outlasted some of our enemies and won the respect of others. We are the very first "all Black, Heavy Metal Thrash Band" and longest surviving with out ever breaking up. Also, we have not changed with the trends, but have outlived many of them.

Q) It is safe to say you guys have seen your fair share of the music industry, do you think the business of music is in a good place right now? Yes, we have seen our fair share of it. It's good for some and getting bad for others. What I see in this business is that the music is going back to the way it was before recordings dominated it, in a sense that performing live is important, because it proves who the real bands are. People want what's real more and more these days. That's why the old music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s is popular among older people and the young.

Q) Thanks to the internet, Stone Vengeance has managed to broaden its audience widely, do you feel as though your popularity has grown thanks to the internet, or am I just typing a load of bullshit? You are correct! before the Internet we had little idea of how many fans we had worldwide, how many people remembered us and love our music. We have a cult following that like what we do and how we do it. Our music is not for everyone it was never meant to be.

Q) So how long you think you can keep going for? Has the idea of packing it in and putting your gear on Ebay to make some serious dollar bills ever cross your mind? Hell yeah, all the time I think about retiring, but our audience keeps getting younger and younger! That inspires us to keep going. Also, a lot of the older Metalheads are just discovering us and want more, it's amazing!!! Well, I'm almost 50 years old! I guess, we can give it a few more years, we will see. About EBAY? Some people on there are making 10 times more money off of our music than us! My bandmates say "if I die, they will have my shit on EBAY before my body reaches the morgue.

Q) What are your plans now? To get off my ASS and get the new CD recorded, then, make it down to SOUTH AMERICA for the fans who have been waiting patiently for us to come see them!

Q) Finally, are there any last words? Wow, we see the riots and protest in your country the UNITED KINGDOM. Let's see if President OBAMA and Hillary CLINTON will get NATO to help the protesters the same way they did in LIBYA! What hypocrisy! I live in SAN FRANCISCO, just imagine: if 10,000 people in this city of 800,000 were angry with the government here and a foreign country sent their CIA in with Millions of dollars to arm the protesters of 10,000, so that when the government steps in to stop the Protest, the foreign country would come and drop bombs on the city destroying the homes and businesses of the other 790,000 people who had worked for years and now are bombed back into the stoneage because of 10,000 protesters? You can find people in every city in the United States that have a problem with their government! Let's see who is going to protect and arm the protesters here in AMERICA. The people in this country are also, getting fed up with the government! They know, this country has money to bail out WALLSTREET, THE CAR INDUSTRY, BANKS, and 500 million a day for defense, but when it comes to doing something meaningful for the working class and the poor, the government acts broke! Taking care of the people at the bottom is the best idea, because everyone is above the poor and working class and when you raise the bottom everyone goes up! So, we will see how the government deals with the protest that will start in America. Not OBAMA or any other Politician is going to do any better, they are all corporate pitchmen! Politics is just a game, in the case of Democrats and Republicans, one acts like he's for you and the other acts like he's against you, They are both against you! How can you tell? Well, for the poor and working class nothing changes. I don't trust any Politicians! So, how will you serve your GOD? In Religion you pray to your GOD, in Politics you vote for them. Sincerely, MICHAEL COFFEY. http://www.stonevengeance.com/

Tags: BLACK, INTERVIEW, METAL, MUSIC, OBAMA, RACE, ROCK