Slappin’ ‘em Down…
Brick by Brick
Interview/photos: Kim Stock

And slappin’ ‘em down is exactly what they do! Think Troycore, you automatically drum up thoughts of slam dancing, bar fights, Stigmata and Brick by Brick (BxB). These guys have been building the foundation for Troycore - a way of life for the diehard, hardcore fans hailing from Troy, NY. Mike Valente, has shredded some guitar over the years. First we remember him with Attica, and then the Bruise Brothers, back 1996. That lasted for about six or seven years...and then came BxB. I cornered Mike Valente at Bogies one night, literally, and asked him about…

There’s a rumor that you’ve had some record label interest?
Basically, when we released our first CD, I paid for it and we played one show (at the Hudson Duster) and we were able to make all of my money back on that one show. Then, for our second CD, we had label interest but we didn’t take action on it because the guys in this band are all blue collar workers. We have families and jobs. We can’t just stop our lives and do a steady tour, which labels want us to do, to make no money. There’s not too much money for hardcore touring bands in the US. If/when we sign to a label, we want it to be on our own terms. So the process of coming up with an agreement with one of the labels is taking some time. We were working with Spare Change Records out of CT for a few months. They gave us some leniency , which we needed, but they weren’t able to provide us with European distribution. Right now we have the choice of four different labels, but we have our own stipulations. We don’t want to do any heavy touring, especially not in the US. Our latest CD, “Severed Ties” needs European distribution.
Why “Severed Ties”? With whom have you severed ties?
Everything. Mostly scumbags, like…

Umm, we’ll leave that out! So when’s your next show?
August 15th at Bogies in Albany. Usually when BxB plays, kids get knocked out! Like the time we packed two carloads of Troycore kids to play in VT. We drove three hours to get outnumbered by their locals. It was like Frankenstein with torches chasing us outta there.