There is no question that the late ’80s New York hardcore movement spawned some fantastic acts. While Sick of it All, Gorilla Biscuits, and Youth of Today, get their fair share of respect and coverage, Astoria’s KILLING TIME haven’t received the kind of credit their music warrants. The band’s debut album, 1989’s Brightside, is a must own release for anyone who calls themselves a hardcore fan. Killing Time have spent most of the ’90s and ’00s away from the studio, with just a full length and 2 EPs in that time, but a rejuvenated line up is ready to change that.

On February 9th, the band will be releasing Three Steps Back, their first studio album since 1997’s The Method. SMNnews spoke with drummer/songwriter Anthony Drago and asked him about the new record, why it took so long to come out, and what his kids thought about hardcore.

The obvious question to start off with is why did it take so long for you to make another album?

Shortly after the release of The Method we all decided to take a break from the band for a while. There were a lot of reasons that brought that on. One was that we were seeing increased violence at the shows and it seemed that the scene was losing touch with what it was really about. Carl and Rich went on to record and tour with other bands. Anthony and I concentrated more on our careers. It wasn’t until 2005 that we got the bug again. The reunion shows in Brooklyn really woke us up to the fact that this band is a huge part of each of us. It’s something that we may have hidden from for a while but couldn’t stay away from forever.

You’ve been playing live on and off for the past few years and hardcore has become much more commercially accepted in that time. Are you seeing younger faces at the shows?

Not dramatically. There seems to be a wide range of ages that will turn out at a KT show. It is always great to see young kids at the shows. It’s even better playing shows with young bands. They always got a lot of questions for us and have an uncanny knack of making us feel like the old bastards that we are. It’s extremely flattering and funny at the same time.

You wrote the material on Three Steps Back in the actual garage where the band used to rehearse back in the late ‘80s. How important was that in the way these new songs came out?

Extremely important. I spent most of my teen years in that garage with no heat in the winter and no AC in the summer. I auditioned for my spot in Breakdown there. I met Comunale for the first time there. The place holds a lot of memories and we all seem to share a certain mindset in that room. We had a running joke when we first started the practices of cheering each other on by saying “Eye of the Tiger”. Within a few weeks, we had the beginnings of the new album. Carl and Chris were really writing a lot of incredible stuff and we all knew we were onto something good.

How much did the public’s perception of what they think you’re supposed to sound like loom over your heads?

Well we kind of experienced that after The Method came out. I really have a hard time finding someone who will admit to liking that record. As far as the band is concerned, it is some of our best material. Anyone in the band will tell you that. I have seen some discussion threads about the topic and it seems that the general consensus is that Brightside cannot be topped. So I won’t jinx this new release and all I will say is that I think it’s been equaled.

Lyrically speaking, are you talking about things on this new record that even a younger audience can relate to? The stuff on ‘Brightside’ sounds as relevant today as it did in 1989 but I wondered if you changed up the lyrical style this time out.

Yes, I think the younger audience will relate to the lyrics now more than ever. They are extremely honest and personal and I found myself writing about a lot of my experiences while growing up. “The Accident” is all about my relationship with my father. “24” details a time in my life when I was forced to make certain decisions that would affect the rest of my life and the anxiety and depression that came along with that. The song “Rope A Dope” is an all out cry to the younger generation to never compromise your self no matter how powerful the opposition may be.

In the time between the last album and this one, have you kept up with the hardcore scene? A lot of veteran acts complain about the current scene’s trendiness but I wanted to get your take on it.

Some of us have kept in touch with the hardcore scene more than others. I’m not really concerned about the trendiness of the scene if in fact that is the case. My only concerns are with our own shows. That we get a killer response from the crowd and that everyone leaves the venue in one piece.

What do your kids think about Killing Time? Are they into hardcore at all?

I think that my four year old son digs the fact that his dad plays drums. He sometimes asks me to put on the music with “your friend screaming”. He loved it when I told him that the song “Lookout” on the new album was written about him. He will ask to hear it once in a while, but his dad would lose hands down if put up against Dan Zanes or Laurie Berkner. Anthony told me that his son would practice the vocal lines with him while he was practicing the new material at home. He wants his son and mine to re-record “24” as a duet.